Nairobi, April 12 -- I am a shoats farmer. Shoats stand for sheep and goats. My shoats need feed which I grow on the farm. The feeds are super napier grass, maize and sorghum for silage and lucerne. Not to mention Boma Rhodes grass. Once harvested and stored, we put the feed through a milling machine to cut them down to a manageable size for mixing into an optimal ratio and reduce wastage.

I won't bore you with the details, but the current Middle East conflict is now affecting my shoats. Why? Because the confounded milling machine is powered by petrol (whose price is about to go through the roof) and the next round of feeds is supposed to be grown with the assistance of fertiliser (which is about to go into shortage mode).

I therefore w...