Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ Global Action on One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) country projects launched

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ Global Action on One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) country projects launched

A key initiative by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to help countries promote their distinctive food and agricultural products took a major step forward today with the first five demonstration countries named – Bangladesh, Egypt, Malawi, Trinidad and Tobago and Uzbekistan.

The Global Action on One Country One Priority Product (OCOP) aims to build more sustainable food value chains, support family and smallholder farmers to be profitable and improve their livelihoods, minimize the use of chemical inputs and natural resources, reduce food loss and waste, and limit the negative impacts on the environment.

Altogether 78 nations from five FAO regions have been designated as potential project countries, planning to promote 50 Special Agricultural Products (SAPs), under OCOP, which was launched by FAO last year.

The SAPs, covering all kinds of agricultural products, are locally known, available, or underutilized and have the potential to be promoted in national, regional and international markets. “They include field and horticulture crops as well as forest and livestock products, they are locally known and unique to the specific agroecological regions, play a significant role in achieving food security and nutrition and have the potential to be promoted in local, regional and international markets,”