Bengaluru, Oct 13 (IANS): The Karnataka government on Friday announced that the number of drought-hit districts in the state have increased from 195 to 216.

There are 236 taluks in the state and only 20 taluks have escaped drought situation in the state following the failure of rains.

According to the revised assessment by the state government, among the 216 drought-hit taluks, 189 are facing a severe situation and 27 normal.

The announcement was made following the latest report by the Deputy Commissioners on the crop survey across the state.

The assessment indicated severe drought situation in most parts of the state and impending food shortage and crisis in the state.

As per the official statistics due to the failure of the monsoon rains, the state faced a shortage of 73 per cent of rains in August.

Although sowing was carried out, the crops did not yield due to the severe shortage of rain.

The crop loss was assessed to be in 39.74 lakh hectares across the state and the loss incurred amounted to a staggering Rs 30,000 crore.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had made a special appeal to the central team visiting the state for drought assessment to take note of green drought situation in the state.

According to official information, paddy crop in 1.33 lakh hectares has been lost in the state.

Jowar the staple food of the north Karnataka region sown in 15,058 hectares is lost.

Ragi, which is grown across the state, in 4.45 lakh hectares and also used as a staple food in south Karnataka districts has been lost.

The maize crop loss is estimated to be in 11.84 lakh hectares. The drought had severely affected the production of toor dal, horse gram, green gram, cow pea, groundnut and other pulses.