Europe's Sentinel-1A satellite has shown that the Mekong River Delta - one of the world's major rice-growing areas - saw a significant drop in productivity over the past year, illustrating the effect of El Niño on food security.

Since the end of 2015, dry conditions associated with El Niño have strongly affected South East Asia, leading to severe drought, in particular in Vietnam's Mekong Delta.

River water levels are at the lowest recorded in 90 years in many places, causing more severe and earlier salt water intrusion than previous years.

According to UN humanitarian response reports, local farmers are coping with the drought and increased water salinity by reducing their crop area.