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Camelids Project Launches its Technical Seminar on Alpaca Fiber in Arequipa

March 31, 2025

The commercial value of alpaca fiber has been limited due to a lack of knowledge on its properties and on the impact alpaca genetics has on fiber quality and productivity. Consequently, the low profitability of fiber sales has reduced the income of alpaca farmers in the Colca Valley hindering their economic progress.

The Nexus project "Integration of genomic, phenotyping, and nutritional strategies to improve the quality and survival of alpaca fiber in the Peruvian highlands" is supporting capacity building of alpaca stakeholders in the Colca Valley. Thus, on March 20th the "Technical Seminar on Alpaca Fiber" was held at the Faculty of Agronomy of the National University of San Agustín (UNSA) in Arequipa. The event gathered 17 participants among 11 UNSA professors and students from the Agricultural Engineering School, and six alpaca producers from the Colca Valley region. During the morning session, lectures on the importance of fiber, its economically valuable characteristics in production, and the criteria used for its quality classification were led by Carmen Silva Villavicencio, a fiber quality specialist from La Molina National Agrarian University (Lima), and by Eder Armando Fernández, a specialist in alpaca and fiber production from the National University of the Altiplano (Puno).

In the afternoon, the project's postdoctoral team conducted practical activities where participants performed analyses. Participants learned about fiber classification based on different qualities, and in using specialized equipment, such as the Fiber EC to measure fiber diameter, which is a key factor in fiber classification and marketing. Moreover, the Fiber MED equipment was used to analyze fiber medullation types, an innovative feature linked to the comfort and thermal regulation of garments made with alpaca fiber.

The transference of knowledge on fiber characteristics and its practical reinforcement using technological tools and equipment will aid alpaca producers from the Colca Valley in analyzing their fibers and selecting animals with better phenotypes, in addition to understanding the fiber quality of their herds to optimize their profitability in the market.