Abstract

TREVINO-CARREON, Jacinto et al. Economic valuation of artisanal and technified elaboration systems for manufacturing natural body care products: study of a women's rural micro-enterprise. agric. soc. desarro [online]. 2015, vol.12, n.1, pp.15-33. ISSN 1870-5472.

The micro-enterprise integrated by nine women began its activity at the end of 2002, with the artisanal elaboration of shampoo. The demand in regional markets fostered the diversification of natural products for body care and forced them to design prototypes to increase the use of technology and improve strategic points in the production process which would allow decreasing the time and costs of fabrication. The study suggests that technified production is more profitable than traditional production; an economic analyses are made of the gross and net income, and of the comparative profitability of the artisanal production system with regard to the technified elaboration of shampoo made with Dragon's blood, aloe and nopal, and of aloe cream and greasewood talcum powder, in the rural micro-enterprise called Aloenogal, El Nogal de Tula S. C. de R. L., located in Ejido Francisco Medrano in the municipality of Tula, Tamaulipas, México. The technified production considered the design and construction of prototypes for a greasewood leaf mill, a dust bottler for talcum powder and a high-density liquid bottler for cream and shampoo, as well as the outfitting of the micro-enterprise facilities. The joint analysis of the elaboration of the three products indicates that the technified system is 86.4 % more inexpensive than the artisanal one.

Keywords : cosmetics; rural micro-enterprise; women; profitability.