Herbal-Based Cosmeceuticals and Economic Sustainability among Women in South African Rural Communities

Abstract

<jats:p>Access to natural resources in the immediate environment is an essential factor that contributes to livelihood in many rural areas. In the current study, we explored the economic potential(s) of the natural herbal-based cosmetic and cosmeceutical enterprise for the welfare of the Vhavenda women. A purposive sampling technique was used to collect data from 79 Vhavenda women and analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics (Tobit regression) as well as budgeting analysis. The majority (61%) of the participants were married with an average household size of five members. Additionally, 39% of the participants were already ageing with an average age-group of 56–70 years. The majority (44%) of the participants were not formally employed while the monthly average total income of R1841.01 (107.37 USD) was recorded with an average per capital expenditure of R1438.42 (83.89 USD). A budgeting cost ratio of 1.28 was recorded, which indicates that for every R1.00 (0.057 USD) invested in the herbal-based cosmetic and cosmeceutical production, an expected return of R1.28 (0.073 USD) was forecasted. Tobit regression results indicated that the determinants of the income of participants were experience level (p &lt; 0.01), religion affiliation (p &lt; 0.05) and consumption expenditure (p &lt; 0.01) among others. Thus, a conscious, introspective and intentional look into this marginalised herbal-based cosmetic and cosmeceutical enterprise as a panacea for improved income and welfare of rural South Africans should be considered.</jats:p>

Determinants of Household Income and Willingness to Pay for Indigenous Plants in North West Province, South Africa: A Two-Stage Heckman Approach

“…Similarly, the acknowledgement of economic benefits of indigenous plants had a positive and significant (p < 0.10) relation to household income. This is consistent with prior literature on the economic potential of indigenous plants to increase household income, lifting rural communities out of poverty and enhancing food security [18,50,[67][68][69].…”

Medicinal Plants for Mitigating Pain and Inflammatory-Related Conditions: An Appraisal of Ethnobotanical Uses and Patterns in South Africa

“…Among the identified plant parts, the leaves (27%), roots (25%), and bark (11%) were the most dominant while the use of seeds, branches, corms, stem-bark, root-bark, and thorns was generally limited (<2%). The current observation whereby the leaves were the dominant plant part remains a common pattern as evident in the recent appraisal of ethnobotanical surveys in southern Africa (Semenya and Maroyi 2018;Ndhlovu et al, 2021). Particularly, the leaves were the most frequently used plant part for the treatment of bacterial (Cock and Van Vuuren 2020a) and viral (Cock and Van Vuuren 2020b) respiratory infections across the traditional southern African healing systems.…”

“…extensive bibliometric analysis of medicinal plant research in South Africa (Viljoen et al, 2019), KwaZulu-Natal was designated as one of the most research active provinces and considered as a "sweet-spot" which may be attributed to the rich plant heritage and indigenous knowledge practice among the Zulus that are the dominant ethnic group. Evidence from the appraisal of ethnobotanical surveys has revealed the existing gaps across provinces and South African ethnic groups in terms of documenting plants (and associated indigenous knowledge) used for different conditions such as cancer (Twilley et al, 2020), malaria (Cock et al, 2019), childhood diseases (Ndhlovu et al, 2021), respiratory diseases (Cock and Van Vuuren 2020a, b), and animal diseases (McGaw et al, 2020).…”

“…In terms of preparation, decoctions and infusions were the dominant methods used for preparing the plants used for treating pain and inflammatory-related conditions (Supplementary Table S1). These aforementioned methods are generally regarded as the most common preparation methods in traditional medicine as evident in recent studies (Boadu and Asase 2017;Alamgeer et al, 2018;Masondo et al, 2019;Aumeeruddy and Mahomoodally 2020;Ndhlovu et al, 2021). When compared to other preparation methods, the relatively shorter duration required for making medicinal plant decoctions is surely the desired benefit (Aumeeruddy and Mahomoodally 2020).…”

“…The high utilization of plant families such as Fabaceae and Asteraceae in folk medicinal flora has been well pronounced for different disease conditions. For instance, a detailed review of ethnobotanical surveys revealed that Asteraceae is the most cited family used for treating childhood diseases in South Africa (Ndhlovu et al, 2021), medical ethnobotany of Lesotho (Moteetee and Van Wyk 2011), medicinal plants used as blood purifiers in southern Africa (van Vuuren and Frank 2020), and managing respiratory infections and related symptoms in South Africa (Semenya and Maroyi 2018;Cock and Van Vuuren 2020a) as well as in Pakistan (Alamgeer et al, 2018).…”