“As the economic environment here in Zimbabwe is quite volatile at current, the CFU has begun doing costings for basic commodities on a bi-weekly basis to assist our farmers in their production planning.” - CFU Calling 6th of July 2023
Understatement.
The English are the masters of understatement. So often giving praise or reviewing some task or idea they will add, “Wonderful effort, but could I suggest or alternately brilliant, but…” consciously destroying the praise immediately and further undermining it with a patronising voice. In saying that though, the start of the first paragraph of this month's CFU column must be the understatement of the year. Particularly since the Zimbabwe economy went into freefall when the currency and the stock market crashed way back on ‘Black Friday’ 1997 when Mugabe agreed to pay huge sums to the ‘war vets’ for his political survival. They had taken to the streets demonstrating and in doing so he feared they were a real threat to his continued rule. That day the currency dropped by 72% and the stock market by 46%. Very bad but not as bad as the effect of taking the farms in the early 2000s leading to US$1 becoming equivalent of Z$2,621,984,228 in 2008. That was the currency that was stronger than the US$ at Independence in 1980.
So to say the Zimbabwean economy after twenty-six years of hyperinflation, currency collapse multiple times and economic chaos, you can see the CFU’s opening lines are an understatement on a massive scale, even hypocritical.
In hypocrisy, as in irony, there is a difference between what the speaker says and the actual situation, therefore in making this opening sentence in the ‘CFU Calling’, the writer is being hypocritical for not telling it as it is. I know to criticise is to attract the wrath of the powers that be.
“Instead of admitting to the ills the government has meted out to Zimbabwe, we continue to seek their non-existent goodwill in resolving our problems rather than challenging them honestly.” - Peter McSporran
Whilst writing this, I also make myself a hypocrite as I have done little. At least we rejected the worthless bonds showing some unity.
In my experience, next to members of religious organisations, parents are probably the most active hypocrites in their daily life routine. Their guilt in this regard often unbeknown to their children until reflection by one on reaching adulthood. The most honest guideline from a parent is, “Do as I say, not as I do.”
“We are all guilty of hypocrisy at some time, trying to maintain our self-esteem publicly is the main driving force for this.” - Peter McSporran
More recently, there is now a whole brigade of new hypocrites, many under the guise of claiming to save the planet, in total denial of personal prejudices in any form with regard to colour, race, gender, climate, diet or even wealth. Many of the largest and noisiest advocates all come from well-to-do or wealthy families. They love blaming the previous generations including their parents for their ills. The last to blame is themselves.
You just have to see them, especially the entertainment idols, driving to their favoured venues while supporting demonstrations such as Stop Oil Now or attending some climate conference. If not in a commercial aeroplane, then a private jet or helicopter. One of the main sponsors of Stop Oil Now is a retired millionaire executive of an oil company. While from his private jet, Lewis Hamiton has shown them sympathy despite all his income coming from the motor and oil industries sponsoring his profession and him personally. Even the English cricket team fell into the hypocritical trap recently criticising the Australians for doing something they themselves had attempted to do earlier in the same match. All those in the members' pavilion are the biggest hypocrites of the lot despite their ridiculously striped jackets and ties.
Writing about hypocrites made me think about the present crusade against farmers, particularly their animals. The Dutch at the forefront of this assault today but it is brewing everywhere including Britain. To this end, I did a few simple exercises. They are perhaps not independent reviews, however, I used the numbers attributed to each input from personally known facts or accepted figures in regard to CO2 footprints and the consumption of milk and dairy. It seems the ‘Greenies’ have an agenda especially against our ruminant livestock despite less than 1% of the world population being vegans. The methane ruminants production is having a major impact on the climate they tell us and should be slaughtered. How else can you get rid of them? I say it can be easily proven they are hypocrites in saying this. Unless they walk to any destination, work or pleasure, rather than using fossil fuel or even EVs for that matter and sit in unheated accommodation over winter eating raw vegetables damaged by insects and disease.
A cow produces roughly ninety kilograms of methane per annum which stays in the atmosphere for about twelve years. Admittedly, they say that methane has twenty-five times more detrimental impact than CO2 on climate. But wait for it, CO2 stays in the atmosphere for anything up to a thousand years, methane at most twelve. Overall in the UK, agriculture contributes 11% of the nation’s carbon footprint with the poor cow only contributing 4%. But they say they produce methane which is so much worse. Transport and energy, used by all, accounts for over 40% of CO2 emissions.
In my simple maths, which definitely needs to be challenged, ruminants will only have contributed to one-thousandth of the emissions accumulated in the atmosphere by the UK over a twenty-year period, forget about a century when the number will be minuscule in the accumulated figure. After all, provided we do not increase cattle numbers, in theory, the methane from cattle should remain constant after twelve years while the CO2 accumulates exponentially. Of course, the hypocrites only mention the annual emissions, never the aggregated annual figures.
“Do not worry about them accessing milk and beef, in the event of getting rid of the animals in the UK they will import it at greater costs rewarding those countries that ignore both the environmental impact and animal welfare. Just as they do with dirty energy.” - Peter McSporran
A simpler example in defending my surmise is that there are nine million cows in the UK producing ninety kilograms of methane per annum, while an hour of one passenger flight produces ninety kilograms of CO2; luckily they are similar amounts. But the difference is that 66 million people are flying in and out of the UK annually. I am not including domestic flights. Then let's be generous and say the average flight time is three hours, including European and intercontinental flights. So we multiply this by three. The answers; Cows: eight hundred thousand tonnes of methane, flights: eighteen million tonnes. One holiday flight there and back to Athens means the individual carbon footprint is the equivalent of seven cows just for the pleasure of getting suntanned and drunk. Meanwhile, one (ONE) dairy cow can produce in a year enough milk for over a hundred people per annum and one beef cow can produce enough beef for twenty people per annum. Surprisingly, beef consumption in Britain is only eighteen kilograms per person per annum. Perhaps, I should mention those that take cruises as a holiday, after all the average cruiseliner produces the CO2 footprint of twenty-two (TWENTY TWO) thousand cars.
I have not even mentioned the benefit our ruminants and other grazing animals do to the environment.
“Uncontrolled environments lead to uncontrollable wildfires, releasing vast quantities of CO2 while causing massive harm to the wildlife it is meant to benefit.” - Peter McSporran
I ask you. How can you fight a fire in the Highlands of Scotland after you have removed the farmer whilst on a Caribbean cruise or dining at your favourite restaurant in Covent Garden scoffing a vegan meal?
My saying of the week is:
“The cost of cheap food is the environment, the animals and the farmers.” - Gareth Wyn Jones, Welsh hill farmer
My Favoured Watering Holes in Harare.
For pictures this week I have included four hotels with casinos we would visit during the eighties and early nineties. For the fifth image, I could not find a picture from the old days of Makasa Casino at Victoria Falls, it was the precursor to Elephant Hills and the stop-gap when the latter was destroyed by fire twice, once caused by rocket fire from Zambia.
As a farm owner, there was little time for town trips, this was normally left to wives on school runs or a driver who would also collect and deliver crops and farm inputs with a seven-tonne truck and trailer. Nissan UDs were the most favoured, I had Leylands. The exception was during the tobacco selling season with sales normally every two weeks from April to September. The typical farmer would go to see his tobacco sold, take his wife, then enjoy a meal and more often than not after farm shopping, a beer. The Red Lion at Harare Sports Club was the favoured watering hole for men on their own, always fellow farmers to be found there, plus service providers. Importantly, it was Brian Wishart’s office, always keen to provide finance for a tractor or truck. Many of us were members of the club, one had to be to buy drinks there. There was a limit on how long others will buy you a drink. Lunch was cheap there too, as was the beer.
If your wife and children went on the trip to Harare with you, then lunch would be at Spargos on Baines Avenue which later became Fat Mamas, Guido’s on Moffat Street moving to Montague Avenue before closing after an altercation with the tax man. It was unique in not issuing a bill, rather payment followed a visual appraisal at the door of your worth by the owner's wife on leaving. Then, of course, we frequented Lew Hughes's, Clovagalix until it burnt down the final time. Alexander’s was another one of our favourites, especially for a boys lunch. I am talking about the days before the Keg’s, Tipperary's etc came into being. One of our favourite venues, until the owner was shot, was the Bamboo Inn. I have travelled the world and never come across spring rolls to compare.
There were many fine dining restaurants in Harare all well-known, so if it was a special night out there were many to choose from. On the farms, entertaining was done at home while, when the city and farm met in the evening it was often in restaurants. Our town friends loved coming to the farm on weekends for a day and a meal, but as I said, social evenings in town were normally at a restaurant. We rarely visited any of the city’s nightclubs.
Following getting involved in farming politics and through joining the Farm Dining Club I was convinced to join the Harare Club, by Strath Brown, a so-called gentleman's club at that time. A rigmarole of interviews and attending a number of evenings to meet members before being accepted. I think you required at least three member sponsors one of whom had to accompany you on those evenings. In those days it was jackets and ties. Jackets and ties were always available at the door if so required. The club had a good restaurant and also offered accommodation.
I used to frequent Harare Club on a Thursday for lunch where an investment group met every week, including stalwarts such as Rory Hoal, Warwick Small, Vernon Nicolle, Mark Tumner, Dave Middleton and Nigel Prior to name a few. They also organised rugby and cricket trips to watch international events in South Africa, kindly including me in a few of those trips if I wished and often accepted. Unfortunately, the red wine at these lunches more often than not led to having a ‘cleansing ale’ at the Harare Sports Club on the way home.
I am not a movie fan, in fact, the whole time I was in Zimbabwe, I attended three which I can still name. Grease, Jaws and Crocodile Dundee. We did enjoy the occasional show at Reps Theatre and for a while at The Seven Arts. Unfortunately, any drinking in town ended with the drive home. African roads are deadly, parked unmarked cars, extremely drunken drivers, unlicensed drivers, unroadworthy vehicles, army vehicles and commercial trucks took their toll. So many friends and farmers died on those roads, many not due to their own action, but that of others.
Disclaimer: Copyright Peter McSporran. The content in this blog represents my personal views and does not reflect corporate entities.
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