FAO launches One Country, one Priority Product in Latin America and the Caribbean

Santiago, Chile - Latin America and the Caribbean joined the Global Initiative on the Development of Special Agricultural Products: One Country, One Priority Product (OCOP), promoted by the Food Organization of the United Nations and Agriculture (FAO).

OCOP's objective is to support small farmers to promote agricultural products with special value –developed with sustainable and innovative practices– in global markets.

In the region, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela are working with cocoa and Cuba, Guatemala and Panama with coffee. Nicaragua wants to promote livestock, and Argentina and Chile are working with honey.

To promote these products, FAO trains countries in the application of a methodology called the Integrated Agrifood Systems Initiative (IASI), created by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

This methodology analyzes the current situation of a product and allows proyected future scenarios, building strategic plans between governments, producers, researchers, civil society and private parties which allow establishing long-term priorities and objectives to support the sustainable intensification of selected agri-food systems.

Chile, Guatemala and Trinidad and Tobago

90 percent of the honey produced by Chile is exported to the European Union and the United States. Honey is a great business opportunity for the 10,000 farms dedicated to honey in the country, with 454,000 hives that generate different bee products; OCOP will work to provide the sector with a strategy of value and positioning of honey for the external and internal market.

Guatemala is one of the world's leading coffee exporters: more than 120,000 small-scale coffee farmers and their families depend directly on coffee, and the sector generates more than 500,000 jobs.FAO seeks to support the country to promote investment in innovation, technology, training, technical assistance and marketing, to improve the performance of the sector.

Trinidad and Tobago is one of the eight countries certified as a producer of fine aroma cocoa, a product of high quality and international recognition. 65 percent of the country's cocoa comes from small producers (less than 5 hectares), and the country exports mostly fermented beans.

The total economic potential of this product is currently underexploited; FAO seeks to promote investment in strengthening this value chain, providing market intelligence.

In Mexico, OCOP will work with amaranth, a product of great importance for small and small producers in central and southern Mexico. Amaranth is cultivated on surfaces of less than one hectare, under traditional agricultural systems, such as milpa and chinampas.

Despite its nutritional and food properties and its climate adaptation characteristics, amaranth faces low demand in the Mexican population: OCOP will seek to work to promote consumption

One Country, one Priority Product

The OCOP initiative was launched globally by FAO Director-General QU Dongyu in September 2021.

The experiences of Chile, Guatemala and Trinidad and Tobago were presented at the regional launch of OCOP held on Wednesday, May 25, 2022.