WHILE ARGRICUTURE PERSONNEL ARE WAITNG FOR THEIR FATE Farmers are beginning to call Foroyaa to put Farmer's Eye on the trail to find out how early varieties of crops are faring in light of the erratic rainfall pattern. Some people are reported to have sown their seeds for early varieties only to be faced with erratic rainfall thus leading to the drying of the crops. They claim that they are finding it difficult to do a second sowing because of the absence of seeds and the unpredictability of the rainfall pattern.

Groundnut has two varieties that are being sown in the Gambia. There is the 90 days variety the Philippine Pink and the FAQ which is a 120 day variety. August is fast approaching but no word is coming from the officials in the Agricultural sector. It is the Department of Water Resources that on Tuesday 9 July 2013 presented an update on 2013 Seasonal Rainfall Forecast for the Gambia.

In presenting the update, the Deputy Director of the Department of Water Resources Tijani Bojang indicated that: "given the current state and trends over the global tropical oceans, knowledge of relationships between Sea Surface Temperatures and West African precipitation; and products of statistical and dynamical long range forecasting systems

and tools, the update on precipitation outlook for July-August- September (JAS) 2013 is in alignment with the initial forecast in late May 2013."

From the above configuration he said, "We expect outbreaks of scattered to widespread moderate Thunderstorms and rain". So far we have scattered rain and many are waiting for the analysis of the authorities so that emergency measures could be taken on time if necessary.