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Overall, the 2006 maize crop season started on time in the southern part of the region (Uganda and Kenya). In Amahara and eastern Oromiya regions of Ethiopia maize planting is having a delay of 4 dekads. In Rift Valley, the most important maize production province of Kenya, maize was planted with more than 2 dekads of delay (Fig. 1). The delays are due to erratic and below normal rainfall in those areas (Fig. 2). Vegetation in south Somalia, northeastern Kenya and southern part of Ethiopia has not recovered from the negative impact of the 2005 drought. This fact is clearly shown by the decrease in vegetation activity captured by the SPOT VGT sensor (Fig. 3).