This paper investigates the development of the One Tambon, One Product (OTOP)
programme in Thailand, based on the earlier experience of the One Village, One
Product (OVOP) movement in Japan. Conceived in Japan as a policy to reverse rural
depopulation, in Thailand it has become more focussed on poverty alleviation. We show
the OTOP programme to have been providing communities with the chance to market
local output and to create employment opportunities. The paper includes a short sample
survey of Chiang Mai province’s OTOP, and an enterprise case study