HAND-CRAFTED PRODUCTS OF THAILAND'S VILLAGE COMMUNITIES

With thousands of tambons (village sub-districts) the length and breadth of Thailand each producing their own distinctive products, in 2001, the Thai government initiated the nationwide One Tambon One Product (OTOP) project aimed at improving incomes in village communities to help alleviate rural poverty.

Drawing its inspiration from Japan's successful One Village One Product (OVOP) scheme, Thailand's OTOP project encourages village communities to produce and market unique products and handicrafts hand-made from locally available materials utilising local wisdom and skills handed down from generation to generation.

WHAT’S OTOP?
What exactly are OTOP products? Typically they are handicrafts, cotton and silk garments, pottery, fashion accessories, household items and many other articles indigenous to each community. The essential ingredient is they are all painstakingly hand-made, frequently with great skill.

So far a number of product groups have been classified for promotion; these include food items and beverages, textiles and clothing, woven handicrafts, artistry items, gifts, household and decorative items, and non-edible herbal products. These cover traditional items made in village communities, each lovingly crafted with the inimitable flavour and style of their localities.

Different regions are noted for specific types of products:

NORTHERN THAILAND
Superb handicrafts, particularly carved wood, silverware, specialty paper products, ceramics, bamboo baskets, cotton fabrics and silver jewellery from hill-tribe minorities.

NORTHEASTERN THAILAND OR I-SAN
It is a tradition in the Northeast for villagers to make two sets of clothes - everyday work clothes and high quality silk items created with outstanding skill for special occasions like weddings and festivals. These latter items are being selected as OTOP products. Silk and cotton fabrics, especially tie-dyed mudmee designs. The most famous are Lai Khid and Phrae Wa silks. Other items include reed mats, baskets woven from water hyacinth and triangular pillows.

CENTRAL THAILAND
Traditional handicrafts of bamboo and bai lan, great earthen pots, Dan Kwian and Koh Kred pottery and terra cotta items.

EASTERN THAILAND
Famed for its fruits, fresh and processed, as well as bamboo and rattan baskets, reed mats and mudmee fabrics.

SOUTHERN THAILAND
Batik fabrics, woven products from lipao, bulrush and panan pandanus, mother-of-pearl inlays and carved wood products.

OTOP QUALITY
Village-made OTOP products are selected for promotion because of their quality and export potential. Many of the silks and Benjarong ceramics, for instance, are works of art, intricately and lovingly crafted by hand.

The project has strong government support on many levels -- identifying potential OTOP products, providing advice on production, quality control, packaging and designs that make them even more attractive to domestic and export markets. The entire OTOP product cycle comes under the supervision of a National OTOP Committee, with regional and provincial level committees to assist in identifying, developing and grading OTOP products.

OTOP CITY

he inaugural OTOP City held in December 2003 was one of the largest exhibitions ever held under roof in Thailand, giving the general public their first true glimpse of the massive extent of the OTOP project and the wide variety of products coming out of it. To highlight the quality available throughout Thailand, the Interior Ministry selected only four and five-star star products, inviting the best OTOP producers from all of the country's 76 provinces.

Just to underline this quality, the event's eye-catching OTOP Hall of Fame featured 20 items selected by the organising committee as the best of the best in the show. Included in the selection was the astounding Thai silk woven in Surin province that was used to make the famous shirts worn by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and every head of state attending the 2003 APEC Summit in Bangkok.

Although specific details of OTOP City 2004 in December have yet to be announced, it portends to be an even bigger and better event, most certainly providing the best opportunity for visitors to discover and buy some of Thailand's fine OTOP products.