March ended yesterday as the driest month in 37 years with a mere 5.7 millimetres of rainfall. The year 2001, so far is the third driest - after 1964 and 1977.

The bulk of Barbados' drinking and irrigation water comes from rain and the dry spell is already beginning to hit agriculturalists who, faced with water rationing, are warning of possible prices increase. The Barbados Water Authority (BWA) is cautiously eying the lack of rainfall on water reserve levels also.

Medium term forecast are for predominantly rainless skies through May.

Acting Director of the Barbados Meteorological Service Leonard Fields said that only 5.7 millimeters of rain was recorded for March, the lowest March since the 8.4 mm in 1964 and 9.1 mm in 1977. He classifies this as a "dry spell" from a meteorological perspective but from an agricultural standpoint it is drought. (There are different definitions of drought relating to meteorology, agriculture, and hydrology).

"We are definitely experiencing drought," said president of the Sheep Farmers Association, Senator Keith Laurie.

"Crop farmers can hold off planting until the rains come but we can't switch off the animals. January was a good month but in February things turned brown," said Laurie.

He said he had no grass in his paddocks and was having to collect cane tops and sour grass daily for his animals, while the Government's irrigation scheme started rationing water by turning off the supply every other day. Dry pastures in the Scotland District have led to the death of at least one cow so far, he said.

General manager of the Barbados Agricultural Society James Paul said crop farmers in areas where the irrigation scheme was shutting off water would be affected and could increase prices.

"We have farmers who rely on drip irrigation and if drought starts this early you don't know how the rest of the year will go. You still have April, May, and June, so this is a major concern," he told the Sunday Sun.

High winds and hot days were causing increased moisture loss in the soil which was worsening the situation, he added.

Fields said the atmosphere had been very dry for the year and there is little hope on the horizon for any major influx of moisture.

The dry spell has been sparking fires, with 122 cane fires so far this year compared with 67 for the same period last year and 338 grass fires compared with 96 last year.

The Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology has forecast drier than normal conditions for March through May for the
region, stretching from Puerto Rico to Trinidad. Their medium-term outlook is for a 60 per cent chance of below
long-term average rainfall, 30 per cent chance of its being near normal, and a 10 per cent chance that it will be above.

Manager of Engineering of the BWA Dr. John Mwansa said the authority will be examining rainfall figures to determine what impact there will be on drinking water supplies.

Only 20 per cent of rainfall reaches underground aquifers and it takes 90 to 120 days to do so, so shortages of drinking water would not be felt for another three to four months. The desalination unit produces only six million gallons of the 33 million gallons used daily and that uses brackish water which is a combination of rainwater-fed supply and seawater.