From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
In a bid to make life more meaningful to Nigerian masses, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Titan Farms, Gbenga Eyiolawi, said critical stakeholders in the agricultural value chain, must device pragmatic ways to ensure stability in the prices of food items in the country towards arresting the skyrocketing inflation.
In an interview with journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, after the launch of Titan Farms City, commissioning of Titan Farms House and annual real estate gala night, he noted that instability in the prices of food items should be addressed so that it would not continue to have negative effects on families and households in the areas of their budget and spending.
According to Eyiolawi, “The instability is seriously affecting a lot of families outside there, based on the projection they made and on how much they want to spend or remove at the end of the month for food bill. Nothing is ever the same in Nigeria. But we in the Titan farms want to bring stability to the food prices so that people can have stable food budget. We will ensure that the products available round the years. Whether you buy our rice in January or December, it is going to be the same price. We want to ensure that the price is stable and high in quality.”
Eyiolawi stated further that the Titan Farms City is a combination of real estate and agriculture. He added that “It is a marriage between real estate and agriculture. That is where we cultivate instead of just processing. At present, we only process. Of course, we want to ensure all year round supply. So, all our products are processed. We have to start cultivating. So, while it is not available and expensive in the market, we can just bring out from our shelves and start processing to ensure price uniformity.
“Quality, integrity and giving what we promised are the unique selling points of the brand. We produce rice, yam flour and oil. Now, we just start our farm city. This is one of the reasons we launched Titan Farm Estate because prices of food items are very high. Don’t be surprised tomorrow it comes down and the following day it may go high. Titan Farm exists in order to build smart investors and increase the food network for Africa through sustainable value chain, thereby giving investors good returns.
Eyiolawi, however, said he could not give an immediate solution to the challenge of rising cost of food items in the country, saying: “but we can do a projection of what will be a solution in the nearest future. That is why we have Titan Farm City to ensure that there is enough availability of stock and raw materials, processed and to ensure uniformity of prices over a period.
“We are working and collaborating with existing farmers. At present, we have 52 farms signed under us that everything they harvest in their farms, we’ll do the process to achieve our product.”
Eyiolawi stated further that the Titan Farms has been encouraging the teeming population of Nigerians to participate in agriculture via the grit of food processing, packaging and getting them to markets. He added that the future aim of the company is to build stronger organised investors, interested in participating in the agro-investment system, while making the process seamless.
