Ramie's Role in Farming Systems

Field of Ramie

Ramie

The following characteristics of the ramie crop would influence its suitability in Australian farming systems:

• It is a perennial crop with a life of 6 to 20 years
• It is capable of producing high yields of biomass and if the harvesting systeminvolves total removal of this biomass, there would be a rapid decline in soil fertility and
• Ramie is subject to a number of pests and diseases, including nematodes.

Processability

The crop

Ramie is a member of the Urticaceae or nettle family and is a hardy perennial which produces a large number of unbranched stems from underground rhizomes. The stems of ramie grow to a height of 1 to 2.5 m. The crop is generally propagated vegetatively, using rhizome or stem cuttings. Production begins to decline once roots become overcrowded.

Harvesting

Ramie is normally harvested two to three times per year but under good growing conditions can be harvested up to six times per year. Harvesting is done just before or soon after the onset of flowering, since there is a decline in plant growth at this stage and maximum fiber content is achieved. Stems are harvested by cutting just above the lateral roots or the stem can be bent, to enable the core to be broken and the cortex can be stripped from the plant in situ. Mechanical harvesters have been developed but are not used commercially. After harvesting, stems are decorticated while the plants are fresh as the bark gets harder to remove as the plant dries out. The bark ribbons are dried as quickly as possible to prevent attack by bacteria or fungi.

The dry weight of harvested stem from both tropical and temperate crops ranges from about 3.4 to 4.5 t/ha/year; a 4.5 ton crop yields about 1,600 kg/ha/year of dry non-degummed fiber. The weight loss during de-gumming can be up to 25% giving a yield of de-gummed fiber of about 1,200 kg/ha/year.

Extraction of fiber

Extraction of the fiber occurs in three stages.

• Firstly, the cortex or bark is removed, either by hand or machine, in a process called de-cortication.
• The second stage involves scraping the cortex to remove most of the outer bark, the parenchyma in the bast layer and some of the gums and pectins.
• The third stage involves washing, drying and de-gumming of the residual cortex material to extract the spinnable fiber. Details of the de-gumming processes tend to be regarded as commercial-in-confidence information

Ramie fiber

Ramie fiber is one of the premium vegetable fibers. The ultimate fibers are exceptionally long and are claimed to be the longest of vegetable origin, with one report claiming the fibers range up to 580 mm, averaging about 125 mm. Ramie fiber is very durable, is pure white in colour and has a silky luster.

For the hand spinner, ramie is treated similar to flax in that it can be either wet or dry spun. A wet spun yarn will produce a smooth softer yarn with high luster, while a dry spun yarn will feel hairier, have less luster and a harsher handle. It can readily be blended with other fibers such as wool or silk, although the length of ramie can sometimes cause difficulties.

Potential production areas in Australia

Successful trial plantings of ramie have been conducted at Rockhampton, Yeppoon and Emerald in Central Queensland.

Commercial prospects for ramie in Australia

Strengths

• Ramie is recognised in the clothing industry as a premium, high quality product.
• There appear to not yet be any serious pest or disease problems for ramie in Australia

Weaknesses

• Ramie fibre is subject to strong competition from cotton and synthetic fibres.
• The fibre is high cost which reduces its competitiveness against other textile fibres.
• The lack of ready supplies of satisfactory quality fibre has discouraged the industrial sector from promoting the crop.
• There is a traditionally high labour requirement for production, harvesting and decortication.
• There is a need to degum the fibre prior to processing.
• The high demand for nutrients and the consequent decline in soil fertility would require special attention in a crop rotation system.
• Many alternative crops can be expected to be more profitable.

Opportunities

• There appears to be a small niche market in Australia for the textile fibre.
• Improved cultivars are available from China, Argentina and India.
• Planting and harvesting can be mechanised to greatly reduce the labour requirements and reduce the cost of production and processing.
• Improved processing procedures are available to further improve the economics of fibre production.

Threats

• The main area of production and the main exporter is China; any local ramie industry would be subject to very strong competition from the Chinese product which can be produced cheaply because of the ready availability of cheap labour.

Background information

History

Ramie is one of the oldest textile fibers. It was used in mummy cloths in Egypt during the period 5000-3000 BC and has been grown in China for many centuries. Brazil began production in the late 1930s with production peaking in 1971 with about 30,000 t. Since then, production has steadily declined as a result of competition with alternative crops, such as soybeans and the importation of synthetic fibers. Production in the Philippines began in the early 1950s, peaking in the mid 1960s with 5,500 t. Since then, production has declined steadily.

Conclusion

It is difficult to obtain accurate information on the level of current imports of ramie fibre and fabric into Australia and the value of those imports.

Ramie fibre is acknowledged as a high quality fibre but its production is labour intensive and unlikely to be economic under current Australian conditions.

The need for chemical treatment to extract the fibre has also been seen as a serious disadvantage. However, experience with many other new crops introduced into Australia has shown that all facets of production and processing can now be mechanised and this could make Australian-grown fibre competitive with production from traditional growing areas.

The potential for production in Australia and the likely demand for this high-quality fibre would appear to warrant a more detailed assessment of the opportunities.

This assessment would need to establish the level and value of current imports of fibre and fabric and seek to establish likely future demand.

It would also be important to identify the potential growing areas and assess the likely profitability of ramie production relative to current crops.

Such assessments would need to assess the prospects and costs of mechanising all facets of production and processing.

As cotton is currently the major plant fibre produced in Australia it would be important to compare the relative costs and returns from cotton and ramie.

If ramie did become an established crop in Australia any waste fibres from the textile industry could be used to produce high-quality specialty paper.