ST. GEORGE, GRENADA, NOVEMBER 22, 2012_ The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is asking farmers and the general public to begin preparing for a possible water shortage in the first half of 2013. The ministry is observing with concern the below average rainfall experienced for most of the 2012 rain season and thinks it is not too soon to alert the nation and begin to recommend and encourage water conservation practices. Land Use Officer Trevor Thompson says the ministry is being vigilant and taking early action rather than waiting until the problem is upon us. He says, November is historically our wettest month of the year, but the rainfall that we are seeing is telling us that this is not the normal situation this year. There is a thirty- five percent below normal rain fall for the year already. The ministry has been closely observing its weather monitoring equipment in the field which is read on a daily basis by trained persons with use of a measuring cylinder. Joy Peters, a prominent farmer at La Saggesse who practices irrigation is concerned about what will be the outcome if the river level drops. He says while he is receiving enough water now there are other farmers who use the river higher up. If the river level drops he says, his water supply may dwindle. He has a contingency plan however saying that if the drought materializes he will pause from vegetable production which is mostly what he does now and switch to more drought resistant crops. Another prominent farmer in the area who is also the farmers’ representative in the Senate, Keith Clouden, says the conditions we are experiencing now is a reminiscent of 2010 when there was an extended dry period. He says early this year there was a lot of rain fall, but since then it has been tapered off. Mr. Clouden advises farmers to practice soil and water conservation by planting different trees along slopes and also use mulching to retain as much water in the soil as possible. He says one clear indication of reduced rainfall in his neck of the woods is that in the past his farm would have been under water at this time of year but that is far from the case this year. The ministry will be meeting with other stakeholder to come up with an action plan and chart the way forward in preparing for the pending drought. In the meantime, the general public, especially farmers is advised to refrain from burning vegetation but instead keep it in the land to help preserve moisture. They should also practice other forms of water conservation wherever possible.