Chouhan said the Agriculture Ministry is fully prepared to handle any adverse scenario and has advised states to remain ready at the district level for low rainfall or other challenging conditions.
An El Nino event is expected to develop from the middle of this year, impacting global temperature and rainfall patterns, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
He directed officials across 18 divisions to prevent leakages and stressed on the need to recharge groundwater and mandate rainwater harvesting to ensure there is no water stress across the state.
Officials in the IMD said this year, till April-end, no heatwave alert was issued for any part of Karnataka or India, yet people experienced high temperatures and heatwave-like conditions.
El Niño, the abnormal warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, weakens the atmospheric circulation driving the Indian monsoon.
