Harare - Firemen in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, are so hungry they have gone on strike, according to state media.

The state-controlled daily Herald reported that firemen downed their hoses on Tuesday after their employer, the Harare city council, stopped issuing them with food while at work.

"Only two firefighters and two officers reported for work yesterday (Tuesday)," the Herald said. "The officers alleged that the city had reneged on an arrangement to provide them with food while on duty."

The country is in the grip of severe food shortages that the United Nations says by January will see 5.5 million people - about one in two - dependent on food aid, after a series of failed harvests.

Churches and aid agencies blame President Robert Mugabe's disastrous land reform programme since 2000 for triggering a collapse of the country's once thriving agricultural industry.

Despite evidence of widespread malnutrition, aid agencies have not been able to launch full-scale relief operations after Mugabe banned them for three months around violence-ridden elections in June. (dpa)