2011 年 41 巻 3 号 p. 585-597
The Japanese government announced commitment to African growth including support for the OVOP movement, which originated in Oita Prefecture, at TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development) VI in 2008. At present, twelve African countries including Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi are expanding the OVOP movement.
The Thai government introduced the OVOP movement and scaled it up to a One Tambon One Product (OTOP) movement, strongly guided by government initiative. In this paper, we examine the impacts of the movement in the Northeast provinces of Thailand. OTOP encourages cottage producers through integration of power from all related government agencies. The movement was started by government initiatives, but gradually brought the concept of “self reliance” to the village people. In addition, OTOP has provided an “OTOP five star logo” so products gain new markets.
The authors conducted field surveys in Northeast Thailand to understand the effectiveness of the movement. This paper presents the survey results with the specific data and interview responses from the OTOP producers.
Finally, we identified some important factors in the movement. Simple regression analysis revealed a strong correlation between OTOP income level, member's age, car ownership and strong leadership. However, no significant relationships between income and education level or motivation of participation were observed. These findings are indispensable as policy implications for the African OVOP movement.
JEL Classification: R58
