Spatio-temporal changes and the driving forces of One Village One Product (OVOP) industries in Beijing suburbs

Abstract

One village one product (OVOP) oriented in Japan is an economic and social sustainability strategy for rural development. The OVOP industries in the areas surrounding a metropolis are susceptible to changes due to the urbanization process. In order to reveal the changing trend of OVOP and its driving forces around metropolitan areas, and promote the OVOP-related decision-making process, we analysed the spatio-temporal changes of OVOP villages in the Beijing suburbs using statistical data for the period of 2007–2017. Mixed methods of literature review, statistical data collection, time series change and policy impact analysis were employed to analyse the spatio-temporal changes of OVOP villages, also the driving forces were screened from the aspects of urban sprawl, industrial policy change and institutional variation, the qualitatively analysed to illustrate their influences on OVOP changes. The results revealed that from 2007 to 2017, OVOP industries in the Beijing suburbs improved agri-product quality to meet the changing urban needs, promoted local labour employment, and improved farmer organization and encouraged rural entrepreneurship, even under a quantitative decrease and spatial shrinkage, which was mainly driven by urban sprawl, afforestation, industrial policy intervention, and the comparatively low benefits of agriculture production. Therefore, more efforts should be directed toward promoting OVOP development in urban contexts, including protecting the spaces for OVOP industry development from urban sprawl and ecological construction, stabilizing favourable institutional arrangements on rural industrial structure, improving the rural community capacity for self-development, and encouraging the flow of more urban resources into the rural OVOP industries.