I would agree, except that I don't think it is necessarily a fake quote. Rather it is presented as a literal statement when in reality he was being facetious. It sounds to me like the point he was trying to make is that they hate the white farmers so much that they will endure starvation to get rid of them, and that they are "strong" enough to endure even cannibalism and that is WHY they don't need the white farmers. Not that they want to eat each other, but that they are willing to do it and that enables them to not be dependent on white farmers.