The Commercial Farmers' Union of Zimbabwe is an organisation that was formed to assist
farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...
s in
Zimbabwe
file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map
Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
with a variety of
agricultural
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...
services. Farmers within the country pay a subscription fee which entitles them to the use of these services. Currently the president of the CFU is Peter Steyl. The Chief Executive Officer of the organisation is Hendrik Olivier.
The Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe (CFU) is an independent and politically neutral membership driven organisation which represents and advances the interests of professional farmers in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa. The CFU draws its membership from primarily large scale and Intensive Commercial Agricultural Producers, but membership is open to all farmers regardless of scale or land holding. The CFU's main agenda is to promote a stable and competitive agricultural business environment; and to provide advice and support to farmers – covering technical extension service, inputs, marketing aspects, business management, labour relations, advice with land and compensation issues and so on.
History
Presidents
The following is a list of past Presidents of the Commercial Farmers' Union and its antecedents.
Rhodesian Agricultural Union
*
R. A. Fletcher (1910–1914)
*
E. Wilson (1914–1916)
*
C. S. Jobling (1920–1923)
*
S. M. Lanigan O'Keefe (1923)
*
H. B. Christian (1929–1931)
*
G. N. Fleming (1932–1935)
Rhodesian National Farmers' Union
*
J. Dennis (1942–1944)
*
Humphrey Gibbs (1944–1946)
*
John Moore Caldicott (1946–1948)
*
E. D. Palmer (1948–1951)
*
John MacIntyre (1951–1954)
*
M. Chennells (1954–1956)
*
E. B. Evans (1956–1963)
*
Tom Mitchell (1963–1968)
*
J. W. Field (1968–1970)
*
R. G. Pascoe (1970–1972)
*
M. E. Butler (1972–1974)
*
C. Millar (1974–1976)
*
John Strong (1976–1978)
*
Denis Norman (1978–1979)
Commercial Farmers' Union
*
Denis Norman (1979–1980)
*
D. B. Spain (1980–1981)
*
Jim Sinclair (1981–1983)
*
John Laurie (1983–1986)
*
J. R. Rutherford (1986–1988)
*
J. H. Brown
J. Harold Brown (1902 – September 17, 1982) was an American composer and musician best known for his production of ''The Saga of Zip Zan Rinkle'', about a man who sleeps between 1948 and 1968 to witness large cultural changes in the United St ...
(1988–1990)
*
Alan Burl (1990–1992)
*
Anthony Swire-Thompson (1992–1994)
*
Peter MacSporran (1994–1996)
*
Nick Swanepoel (1996–1998)
*
R. D. Swift (1998)
*
Nick Swanepoel (1998–1999)
* Tim Henwood (1999–2001)
*
Colin Cloete (2001–2003)
*
Doug Taylor-Freeme (2003–2007)
*
Trevor Gifford (2007–2009)
*
Deon Theron 2009–2011)
*
Charles Taffs (2011–2014)
*
Peter Steyl (2014–2018)
*
Andrew Pascoe (2018–present)
Notable people
*
Mike Campbell, farmer and activist
*
Lionel Cripps, first
Speaker of the
Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly; helped found the CFU
*
Humphrey Gibbs, last
Governor
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
of
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...
before
UDI; helped found the CFU
*
Ben Freeth, former CFU official
*
Iain Kay, farmer and politician
[{{Cite web, url=http://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/apr2_2002.html, title=The Zimbabwe Situation, last=kdc, website=www.zimbabwesituation.com, access-date=2017-12-12]
*
Paul Tangi Mhova Mkondo, member
*
P. K. van der Byl, former CFU lawyer
*
Jenni Williams, former CFU spokeswoman
References
External links
Official website
Agricultural organisations based in Zimbabwe
Farmers' organizations
1943 establishments in Southern Rhodesia