Chief Executive Officer, Titan Multibusiness Investment Limited (Parent company of Titan Farms that processes Titan Rice), Gbenga Eyiolawi, speaks with Omolara Akintoye on how agro business has thrived despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the risks involved in the business and how government can assist agro farmers. Excerpts:
What has changed about Agro business with COVID-19 ?
Agro-commodity and Agro business has thrived well during and with the presence of the pandemic as every human must eat to stay alive.
During the pandemic, people could do without school, religious centres, entertainment but food? No way! Even when all other sectors were closed, food markets still opened occasionally because closing that would be worse than COVID itself.
As a tech- based business, we are able to work efficiently during the pandemic by coordinating distribution via a digital outlet straight to the doors of our customers by working together with logistics companies. This synergy and collaboration is made possible due to the presence of COVID which made us and agro allied businesses realize that we cannot work in solitary.
What does agro business entails?
When we talk of agribusiness, it has to do with everything involved in the production, processing and distribution of farm supplies. In summary, from seedling up till the point where the final consumer buys them is referred to as agribusiness. Our area of specialisation is basically rice processing and distribution. This involves the steps from the paddy purchase through processing, transportation and then distribution to wholesalers and retailers.
What gives you an edge over other competitors?
One of our major edge is the quality of rice we produce is 100% organic with no chemical input and outstanding in terms of taste and neatness (stone free), not sticky and rises so well. Titan rice is easily affordable and available in the locations we have covered so far.
What are your plans for consumers as the Yuletide draws near?
Our plans are basically to reward our existing customers with discounts and incentives in form of products depending on the volume they have purchased from us and to encourage new customers to patronize more.
This is also dependent on the volume they purchase from us. We also have our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects where we intend to bring together the less privileged during the festive period. This way, we can ensure more people are covered under our adopted feeding program for orphanages and adult homes.
What are the risks involved in agro business and how do you intend overcoming the challenges involved?
Like every other business, we take risks every day. But, as much as possible, we take calculated risks but even at that, we mitigate our risks as all our aspects of our business is insured by a reputable insurance company.
By breaking monopolies, most of those in rice production business in large scales before us met favourable government incentives like tax relief, provision of land and funding of machineries. For new entrants, this is a challenge as we are still looking forward to the government to open more opportunities to us.
How can government assist agro farmers?
To be fair, the ban on importation on rice is a big boost to all of us in the industry as that is what brought most of us into the industry, I would say a big thank you to President Muhammad Buhari. In addition, there is a paddy aggregation scheme funding opportunity by the CBN for rice processing and trading companies. So, I will say they have done super well to encourage us to push even harder. That is not to say everything is perfect.
Our government can do better by ensuring the security agencies on the road understand the difference between local rice and foreign Rice and not clamp unnecessarily on innocent Nigerian rice traders moving their merchandise from one part of the country to another, hence leading to delays in the transport of goods.
Government can also help by providing more resources to farmers so they can expand and increase their output gradually.
There is also need for state governments to work more on promoting the growth of rice especially in the south so we can have rice at good prices around the country, not just by going to the North.
Some state governments in the south set up rice processing plants but the question is where are the farms in that state supplying them paddy? Little wonder some of these plants are redundant or at best, have low production output. The way forward on this is for us to have massive rice farms across the country, in places where the land can grow rice.
Government should also help by ensuring it is easy for good processed foods to get export licenses. Presently, it is a tough one. Even when your product is good, it is not easy.
Another challenge is NAFDAC registration. This is a major problem for most agribusiness as the process is too slow and we all know no supermarket will buy or display products that do not have NAFDAC number, neither can such products be exported.
What are your reasons for venturing into agro farming?
Growing up, one thing made the house dull and that is my mum’s mood. She is a hardworking woman who does everything to make her children comfortable. There is only one thing that can switch her mood to the off mode and that is when we are almost out of foodstuff, especially rice.
Even if we have other foodstuff and we are almost of out stock for rice, she would react as though there is no food at all at home. I bet this is applicable to most homes. Even when paying school fees was very hard, she ensured food was always available.
At some point in her life she ventured into food processing and made a name for herself. All the while, I was in real estate trying to make a name for myself.
One day at a family gathering my brothers and I with our mom started telling our wives our growing up story. Our wives shared similar stories of theirs that same happened with them. Then it clicked in me that this is it! Something people would never do without even if they have nothing.
But the challenge remains how can I make life better for the people than it was for us, growing up? That was when I started my research about rice processing and trading and how I can cut costs to ensure my products are of very high quality, yet affordable.
That journey cost me close to 12 months of research and development. Today, I can boldly say Titan Rice is the most affordable rice of its quality in the market. So we give premium products at affordable prices that the masses can afford.
The formula is simple: can someone on the minimum wage afford any size of our product without regretting the effect of the purchase on his/her purse?
Today, we have achieved that to the point where people ask where we get our paddy that we are able to sell our products this low, yet retain the quality.
What is your advice for youths interested in agro farming?
For youths interested in agri-business, I would tell them to sit down and think back so as to discover a product they can work on with passion, not just for the money.
Then they can go for trainings in all aspect of agriculture business like supply chain, processing, marketing and distribution. However, this takes time and effort and cannot be achieved in a short period of time so if they intend to do agribusiness, patience is key.
Today, Titan Farms started from a passionate story of my childhood experience with food and today I use that same experience to produce and market my products.
That drive, training and experience is what keeps me going even when there is a challenge in the market or with my partners or partner plants. Let your dream, passion and drive align!
What has been the role of agribusiness in developing countries, and how do they fit in their agricultural production processes and development?
No country can survive without agriculture, either imported or locally produced so agriculture helped by being a source of affordable food supply because citizens of these countries who cannot afford imported foods can now buy within their purse or even farm on their own and sell to their immediate community. They can farm or trade based on their purse, no limits!
It is also a major source of employment directly and indirectly. Directly for people working on the farms and trading and indirectly for people working in the factories that use farm or herbal produce as raw materials. People also work in the packaging and transportation of these raw and finished products.
We should not forget that this sector is a major drive of foreign exchange that even the government cannot disregard. Agribusinesses now export finished produced in Nigeria goods to Europe, UK, USA and other parts of the world
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