Early Preparations Underway For Possible El Nino Heat - Mohamad 

GEORGE TOWN, Oct 7 (Bernama) -- The government is making early preparations for potentially extreme heat, with temperatures forecast to reach 40 degrees Celsius from the end of this year until April next year.

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu said his ministry is also seeking input from experts in artificial intelligence (AI), science and technology to identify the best ways to deal with the expected weather changes.

"We are in the midst of looking for solutions, including from experts in AI technology, science and other fields, on how to deal with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius from the end of this year until April next year, as forecast,” he said at the 'Dinner with Parti Amanah Negara President’ here today.

He said early preparations were important to ensure that the government and the people would not panic in the event of prolonged hot and dry weather.

Mohamad said one issue that needed attention was the possibility of water shortages, which could affect the agriculture sector, including crop cultivation and livestock activities.

He said early information and weather forecasts were also being taken into account to enable appropriate measures to be planned in advance.

Meanwhile, Mohamad hopes Budget 2027, to be tabled on Friday (Oct 9), would give attention to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in view of the challenges expected to arise from the El Nino phenomenon.

"I think there may be some additional allocation for the Ministry of Agriculture because one of the challenges we will have to face is El Nino next year,” he added.

He said the water supply issue also needed to be addressed early to ensure that the country's agriculture sector and food security would not be affected in the event of a prolonged period of hot weather.

-- BERNAMA