A fruit farmer fears crops could be lost if Kent does not get rain soon.

As the county prepares for a hosepipe ban to tackle the worsening drought, John Myatt is struggling with water resources at an all-time low.

He uses a reservoir at Mockbeggar Farm, in Cliffe Woods on the Hoo Peninsula, to water his strawberries - but it is only two-thirds full.

Heavy rain could stave off the worst of the drought, but the Met Office is not forecasting any significant rainfall in drought-affected areas over the next month.

Mr Myatt - who supplies fruit to supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer - said: "In a dry year we would use the full amount in the reservoir so the fact it isn't full yet, and at the moment looks unlikely we can fill it, means we will have to restrict the amount of water we can use.

"Our fruit crops are very sensitive to water quantities we give them. We have to irrigate all our crops and any shortfall in that requirement would reduce the yield that we would get from that crop."

Mr Myat said he is taking every step to ensure the crop is not wiped out, but predicts .

He added: "We are measuring soil moisture and giving the crop the amount of water necessary according to these measurements.

"We are fairly efficient in what we do, but we have gone as far as we can."

Meanwhile, the Environment Agency is calling on farmers to work together to protect supplies.

Water companies announced homes across Kent are to be hit with hosepipe bans as a result of two unusually dry winters.

Seven firms - including Southern Water, South East Water, Thames Water and Veolia South East, which serve Kent - are to enforce the ban.

The temporary restrictions are set to be introduced on Thursday, April 5 - just before the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.

Customers will be prevented from using hosepipes for watering their gardens, washing cars and filling swimming pools.

Anyone who breaches the terms of the water ban - the first since 2005 - could be prosecuted.

Kent was officially declared a drought zone by the Environment Secretary last month after one of the driest two-year periods since records began.

If the situation does not improve this could lead to emergency meassures such as public standpipes, which were introduced during the 1976 drought.