The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has presented to the Ministry of Agriculture the findings of the “One Village One Product Pilot Project,” an initiative aimed at assisting micro-producers through better branding.

The One Village One Product (OVOP) Pilot Project focused on improving the marketing and branding of a variety of products from the selected communities of Micoud, Choiseul, and Soufriere. The catalog, survey, and report presented by JICA to the Ministry of Agriculture has a selection process outlined in response to feedback from the OVOP pilot project providing a transparent tool for final product selection for the full rollout of the OVOP Project across the island.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Barrymore Felicien noting the success of the pilot project partnership between the Ministries of Agriculture and Commerce and JICA, expressed gratitude to all stakeholders involved in the initiative.

 “Beyond the presentation of the final report and the catalog, the project has been a resounding success in many ways not only because they delivered, but because of the collaboration between Ministry of Agriculture, JICA, Ministry of Commerce and other persons who are not here. It shows that we commit ourselves technically and financially we can achieve. This project was achieved between the period of October 20221 and January 2022 and we met our deadlines and that is important.”

According to Permanent Secretary Barrymore Felicien, the OVOP project can provide a plethora of opportunities once fully implemented.

“We already have a formula that we’ve used that is successful we can further implement and ensure that other communities benefit. It is important for me to note that in November 20220, the Ministry of Commerce had a similar initiative called One Community One Project and that there’s a collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Commerce to ensure that there are synergies between those projects and there are seamless implementation. So we’re looking at identifying a basket of local resources that we can target that we can roll out between full implementation.”

 The next step in the One Valley One Product Project will be a technical meeting with JICA and the Ministries of Agriculture and Commerce to develop a proposal for the project’s overall direction.