Farmers in the Jordan Valley are heaving sighs of relief as bountiful rain in the generally bone-dry kingdom so far this month is helping to stave off the annualt threat of drought.

Heavy rainfall in March has filled about a quarter of the capacity of Jordan's reservoirs of 215 million cubic metres. They are now at about 47 percent capacity, according to official figures.

"The rain saved us from drought, thank God," Abdul Karim Trudi told AFP at his 40 dunum (four-hectare, nine-acre) farm in Shuneh, west of the capital Amman. "We were about to face the worst season in 20 years."

Around 250,000 dunums in the Jordan Valley are planted with vegetables, bananas, grain and citrus fruits.

The 110-kilometre (68-mile) King Abdullah Canal, which channels water down the valley from small rivers in the north, supplies around 8,000 farms with some 250 million cubic metres for irrigation.

But farmers are still unhappy.

"What adds to our problems is that the government has neglected the agricultural sector," Trudi said, puffing on a cigarette and sporting a red and white keffiyeh headdress.

More than 60 percent of Jordan's annual water consumption of 900 million cubic metres goes to agriculture. But five successive years of below-average rainfall has created a shortfall of 500 million cubic metres a year.

In December and January King Abdullah II joined thousands of his countrymen in special Muslim prayers known as Salat al-Istisqa to pray for rain across the kingdom.

"The rains came late this year. This was very bad for us at the start of the season," said Hani Aziz, who grows tomatoes and aubergines at his 30-dunum farm in Karemeh.

But Aziz did not blame farmers' woes entirely on poor rainfall.

"Drought is a major problem of course, but to be honest some farmers don't care for their land properly... they completely neglect their farms and then blame the government," he said.

"The situation is better now... at first the authorities prevented us from growing summer crops and they reduced water supplies, but after the rainfall they changed their minds."

In January, the water ministry banned the cultivation of summer crops, including some vegetables, to save water. The decision was later overturned after relatively generous amounts of rain.

"The ban would have harmed farmers and the economy," said Adnan Abdelnur, deputy secretary general at the agriculture ministry.

"It's too early to determine if the lack of rain at the beginning of the season caused serious damage. We will know by the end April."

Agriculture's contribution to Jordan's gross domestic product (GDP) stands at 3.6 percent, according to official figures.

"We still hope there will be more rainfall," Abdelnur said, and officials are advising farmers not get too excited about the recent rains.

"The rainfall averted the immediate danger of drought," said Adnan Zubi, also deputy secretary general at the water ministry. "But we definitely need more, and people should be aware of this fact."

Khalil Jaran, deputy director of the country's National Centre For Agricultural Research and Extension, also urged farmers to be prepared to cope with the effects of poor rainfall.

"Farmers should learn how to manage their farms efficiently and be prepared to face chronic water problems," he said.

"For example they need to learn how to ration water, use efficient irrigation systems, find the right fertilisers and combat pests effectively."

Scientists say drought is likely to get worse in countries that are already badly water-stressed, especially in the Middle East and the Mediterranean rim.

Jordan is now focusing on developing water resources and meeting the challenges of climate change.

It plans to tap into the 300,000-year-old Disi aquifer in southern Jordan, and in cooperation with its Palestinian and Israeli neighbours build a massive canal from the Red Sea to the slowly evaporating Dead Sea -- the lowest point on the planet.

The desert kingdom, which will need 1.6 billion cubic metres of water a year to meet its requirements by 2015, also wants to develop nuclear energy with the help of countries such as France, the United States, Russia and China.

Zubi said representatives from Jordan are attending the World Water Forum this week in Turkey, where thousands of officials and experts have gathered to discuss management of the region's "blue gold."

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