RIRDC - Research Compendium 1993

Rural Industries
Research & Development Corporation

Research Compendium 1993 - 1994

Research Project

THE PERUVIAN ALPACA INDUSTRY

Objectives

To obtain information on the alpaca industry in Peru including the production systems, disease stating, fibre harvesting, processing of fibre, and the marketing of alpaca, fibre and fabrics domestically and for export.
To assess the constraints and opportunities for the industry in Peru, and if opportune for both alpaca and llama in other parts of South America.
To identify constraints, opportunities and action required for the further development of the alpaca industry in Australia.
To identify and evaluate recent, current and planned R&D for the alpaca industry in Peru.
To recommend the future R&D priorities for the alpaca industry in Australia.
To consider and recommend, if warranted, a visit by a R&D person from Peru and provide Terms of Reference for such a visit.

Background

Peru currently produces an annual average of 3.5 million kg of Alpaca fibre, representing 90% of the total world production.

The Australian Alpaca industry is still very small, and based on sales of breeding stock. It is estimated that there are about 6000 alpaca in Australia today in 400 registered herds (1992) which produced about 10,000 kg of fibre in 1993. There is potential for the Australian industry to increase significantly its export of breeding stock and long term production of quality fibre. The industry aims to establish a fibre marketing organisation which requires objective information on the types and qualities of alpaca fibre in Australia to establish appropriate grading and marketing strategies.

Research

To investigate and access aspects of the Peruvian alpaca industry including:

history and status of camelids in South America;
past and potential fibre production;
export of alpaca from Peru;
disease and veterinary service;
Peruvian university camelid programs;
Peruvian alpaca industry leader;
the future for the Peruvian camelid industries; and
proposed research and development priorities for the Australian Alpaca industry.

Outcome

Of the South American camelids in Peru today, only the llama and alpaca are domesticated, the llama traditionally being a beast of burden and the alpaca being used for fibre and meat production. The textile industry regards Alpaca fibre as a specialty fibre, sought for its softness, warmth without weight, range of natural colours and strength. A large percentage of the Alpaca fibre produced in Peru is generally of poor quality and coarse. The only way to resolve these problems in Peru is by the design and adoption of rigorously controlled camelid breeding, fibre production, and quality assurance programs.

It is vital that the Australian alpaca industry makes use of skilled geneticists to strongly discourage hybridisation of Llama and Alpaca. The breeding program may need to look closely at opportunities of artificial breeding and estimate the genetic and phenotypic characteristics of commercial importance and base the industry's development on the selection indices determined. There is a need to investigate opportunities for the manipulation of the alpaca reproductive cycle to better align reproduction and pasture growth cycles.

Implications

The study tour led to the formulation of a set of recommendations for future research and development priorities, including:

development of knowledge of the characteristics and properties of fibres and textiles of Alpaca in Australia;
assessment of market requirements and market potential for Alpaca fibre textiles and garments produced in Australia;
development of a genetic improvement program for Alpaca in Southern Australia based on market requirements identified above;
the cooperative inter-industry development of protocols to allow the Australian Alpaca and Llama industries to access superior genetics from Peru;
research of camelid nutrition and development of efficient economical feeding systems for Alpacas and Llamas in Australia; and
improvement of the efficiency of natural reproduction.

RIRDC Project No: TUC-1A

RESEARCHER: Chris Tuckwell

ORGANISATION: SA Department of Primary Industries

c/- University of Adelaide

Roseworthy Campus

ROSEWORTHY SA 5371

PHONE: 08 303 7718

FAX: 08 303 7721

PUBLICATION:

Tuckwell, C. The Peruvian Alpaca Industry. Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation. 1994, Canberra.