Malawi moves to revamp One Village One Product

Malawi in collaboration with the Government of Japan is set to revamp the One Village One Product (Ovop) and align it to Malawi 2063, the country’s long-term development plan, to enhance agriculture commercialisation.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Nancy Tembo told journalists in Lilongwe last week that the concept was important, as such, it needs to be revamped.

She said Malawi being an agro-based economy, with agriculture contributing about 25 percent to the country’s gross domestic product, there is need for concepts such as Ovop to ensure that the country moves from subsistence to commercialised agriculture.

“The best way is to ensure that there is value-addition and if communities get together to grow a particular crop, it is easy to do value-addition in that area; hence, the need to revamp Ovop and see how best we can improve it,” said Tembo.

Japanese Ambassador to Malawi Yoichi Oya, who presented his letters of credence last week, said Japan is committed to supporting Malawi in various fields, including revamping Ovop.

“Japan will support Malawi in various fields and the same is expected of Malawi to Japan. I cannot tell in detail about every field, but we are committed in this quest,” he said.

Ovop is a Japanese regional development programme which originated in Oita, Japan in 1979 by the then governor Morihiko Hiramatsu.

The programme, launched in 2003, saw one village producing a product each with high-value addition for sale.