No rain has fallen since mid-October during the country's wet season, jeopardising one of the two annual rice harvests. Crops are already dying, he said.

"A drought is threatening hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland and many farmer families," the premier told soldiers at a military event in Phnom Penh.

He asked armed forces, monks and donors to help relieve the problem by handing out water pumping machines, food and fuel to those facing difficulties.

Nhim Vanda, chairman of the kingdom's national committee for controlling disasters, told AFP that farmers in rice-growing areas in the country's north and south faced severe drought.

He said a huge amount of rice and seedlings would be destroyed within a week unless there is rain, with many people facing difficulties next year.

"This year's drought is a serious one, we see that 20 percent of crops (in those areas) have been affected already," he said.

The Cambodian government and Red Cross officials have provided food for up to 17,000 families since late October, he said.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation in 2003 said three percent of Cambodia's 13 million population were undernourished.

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