Industry Minister Kosit Panpiemras has been inspired to revamp and rename the country's one-tambon-one-product (OTOP) scheme.

Kosit visited Japan and met the "hero" of its one-village-one-product movement.

"I have learned new things," Kosit said after hearing from Morihiko Hiramatsu.

Hiramatsu is the former governor of Oita-Ken prefecture, where Kosit learned of new developments in Japan's community enterprises.

He now plans to revamp OTOP. The scheme was initiated by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who visited Oita too and adopted its model.

Hiramatsu now runs the Oita village-product international-exchange promotion committee.

He told Kosit OTOP concentrated too much on selling "five-star" products rather than lesser products that put income directly into the hands of locals.

Hiramatsu took Kosit to the Konohana Garten restaurant and shop run by an agricultural cooperative in Oyama. It serves organic food and sells organic farm products and souvenirs to visitors.

Established in 1990 the Konohana Garten now has seven shops with combined annual sales of 1.5 billion yen (Bt461 million). Its success is a result of catering to demand for healthy food, Hiramatsu said.

Kosit said Thailand's scheme would be renamed. He said it suggested each tambon produced only one unique thing. He wants to emphasise "community products".

It could be that several villages or tambons jointly produce one unique product, he said, adding that OTOP projects had resulted in too many products that were not unique, leading to oversupply.

Industry Ministry permanent secretary Chakramon Phasukavanich said there were currently about 30,000 OTOP products and this should be reduced.

He shared Hiramatsu's opinions and said five-star producers did not need as much government assistance as those of lesser goods.

There needs to be a new measure of the performance of community products, he said. Gauging sales at a once-a-year exhibition at Muang Thong Thani is not a good benchmark, he thinks, and he wants to see year-round promotion of community products.

The government will sell hotels on the idea of using "made-to-order community products", he said.

The government will promote products in tandem, such as Thai traditional massages in spas built from Thai ceramics with Thai decorations, Chakramon said.

Government financial support may not be necessary, he added, noting that the government-backed OTOP plaza had failed while local initiatives had succeeded.

Wichit Chaitrong

The Nation