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Abstract
Before the current problem of global warming by high emissions of CO to the atmosphere, as 2
well as the scarcity and cost of fossil energy such as oil, coal and gas, has become important
search and use of alternate sources of fuel. The main plant species that can provide biofuels are
cane sugar, sorghum, corn, among others for ethanol; soybean, sunflower and groundnut,
among others for biodiesel; However the use of food grains has caused higher prices of food, so
it is required to seek alternative species to produce biofuels that do not compete with the staple
crops. One of the promising species by its high genetic diversity and production capacity of oil
of excellent quality as an input for biodiesel is Higuerilla Ricinus communis. Mexico, agroecological
characteristics has good potential to cultivate this species in an area of almost four
million hectares. The State of Oaxaca has an area of great potential for the cultivation of
183,000 hectares, where there are already other crops. The objective of this work was to
determine the competitiveness of Higuerilla purposes of biofuel in the Central Valleys of
Oaxaca region, compared with crops which are currently carried out. In 2009, through
interviews with producers in the District of Zaachila, they collected and quantified the
technologies of the producers and conducted a comparative financial analysis through the
Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM). The indicators were generated per hectare of total income, total
cost, net profit, added value and relation of private cost (RPC).
The results indicated the Higuerilla under a system of intercropping with maize, was
moderately competitive and profitable with a 0.68 RPC but was overtaken by the bean from
temporary with a RPC of 0.4 and maize in irrigation with a RPC of 0.5. This was due to low
performance in average stood at 850 kilograms per hectare and the low selling price of five
pesos per kilogram. The competitiveness of the higuerilla at producer level showed a trend to
insensitivity to changes in the current price of sale in the local market and retrieved current
performance, for it can be concluded that in the current conditions of production, the Higuerilla
is moderately competitive and profitable. To improve competitiveness, there are two tracks
that can be complementary, one of them refers to the momentum of improvements in
technology to the production system to significantly increase the productivity and the second
relates to the establishment of a sales price of the raw material than the one presented in the
local market.