Near normal start of the first crop season
In general the 2007 maize crop season started on time in Uganda with an important possible earlier planting of one month in the Northeastern part of the country (part of Nile, North and Kamoyo provinces (Figure 1). The mentioned area is traditionally mainly used for sorghum cultivation and pasture. At the same time there are some small pockets with a 1 month delay for maize planting in the West, South and East provinces.
The results of the water balance model lead to a very good maize yield forecast for 2007 crop season in Uganda (Figure 6, page 3).
On the other hand the vegetation index shows a good starting of the crop season with a slightly below normal on the vegetation activity during the month of April, however the final situation is near to normal (Figure 9, page 5).