By: Caribbean World News Thursday March 11,

With an unusually dry season hitting the Caribbean,  leaders of the Caribbean Community  group of nations are set to make water their priority when they meet   at the 21st Intersessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government this morning.

The CARICOM heads are meeting at Fort Young Hotel in Roseau, Dominica and will be discussing water resources within the region during the two-day summit under the broader head of `Critical issues in the development of the Community,` a CARICOM statement said Wednesday. 

The agricultural sector, upon which many member states including Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia, Jamaica, Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Dominica depend, has been hard hit by the extended dry season.

The El Nino weather phenomenon has been blamed for the prolonged dry spell. According to the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, with the dry conditions and prevailing winds this time of the year there are increasing concerns about bush fires in the southern Caribbean. The threat of disease has also been raised.

So far management of the region`s water resources has been a key area of concentration for governments and water conservation plans have been activated in some member states.

Resources also have been allocated to ease the effects of the drought.

The heads of government begin their first business session Thursday morning and among other issues down for discussion will be developments in relation to the critical situation in Haiti following the devastating earthquake of 12 January. Rene Preval, the President of Haiti will be attending the meeting fresh from a meeting with the U.S..

Additionally, heads are set to consider the establishment of three entities - Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA), and the Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network Agency (CKLNA) and C@ribNet under the broad head of institutional developments within the Community.