Tuesday, March 25, 2008 Otop's success 'depends' on LGUs
THE willingness and support of local governments are vital in sustaining the success of the One Town, One Product (Otop) program of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Elias Tecson, chief of the program management division of the DTI Cebu Provincial office, said that part of the success of some of Otop program participants were due to the cooperation of the leaders in the municipality.
Though the Otop program looks into the viability of the local market and the abundance of raw materials in each town, he also said that the DTI also considers towns whose officials expressed interest to support the program.
He said local government units (LGUs) can subsidize the honorarium for consultants, provide venues and food for trainers who will be giving technical and entrepreneurial skills training to the micro-entrepreneurs participating in each town.
Tecson gave as an example the experience of Alegria, where they had the benchmarking mission late last year.
Part of the costs incurred by the mission was shouldered by the Alegria municipal government and this has contributed greatly to the success of the trade visit.
During the two-week mission, Alegria’s bamboo product makers were exposed to “high-end” bamboo products manufactured in Marikina and Laguna in Luzon.
As a result, Alegria’s bamboo industry has grown.
The town is now producing new items, like wine holders and reclining chairs. Before, it only used to produce its lone product—the bukag or harvest baskets.
Meanwhile, after DTI, together with the Department of Tourism (DOT) 7, hosted two familiarization tours to the southern and northern towns in Cebu—with each town showcasing different Otop products—Tecson said that they now want to focus on improving the design and development of the Otop products.
Packaging
Tecson said improving the packaging is not only intended to increase the marketability of the product but is also in compliance with other government requirements, like the ones of the Bureau of Food and Drugs (Bfad) for food products.
Bfad requires food manufacturers to indicate in the product labels the ingredients and nutritional value.
“Packaging will also expand the micro-entrepreneurs’ market (and will include) especially tourists,” Tecson added.
To assist Otop manufacturers in the packaging of their different products, DTI has tapped the academe through a contest.
Participating schools can compete for best product design and business plan. The winning entries in the product design category and business plan category could be used for free by the town whose product was featured in the contest.
In the inter-school competition last November, the product design entry submitted by the University of Cebu for Cordova’s bottled Bakasi (eel) in three flavors won.
DTI’s Otop program, which is our local version of Japan’s One Village, One Product, has about 70 participating LGUs to date.
As part of efforts to promote the program, DOT has also encouraged tour operators to learn about the different Otop of each town and showcase them to tourists. (DME)
