FERAL camels will be exported as fine cuisine under a $20 million plan for Port Pirie abattoir.

Egyptian businessman Magdy El Ashram this week will lodge an application with the local council to develop a Gladstone slaughterhouse, north of Adelaide, and spark a $60 million-a-year export industry employing up to 250 people.

The planned abattoir will become the largest of its type in Australia and slaughter 100,000 animals a year for sale to the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Agriculture Minister Michael O'Brien yesterday told The Advertiser he would lobby intensely for the project, which would tackle an environmental menace and provide regional jobs.

The factory - which could also process donkeys and goats - is expected to be operational next year and comes in the wake of job losses following closure of Port Pirie's Conroy's cattle abattoir.

An estimated 1.5 million feral camels are on the loose in Central Australia and roam an area that crosses into three states and the Northern Territory. They breed at such a rate the population doubles every nine years.

The Federal Government is carrying out a mass culling campaign that involves shooting the camels from helicopters and leaving carcasses to rot in the desert.

Mr El Ashram has called on authorities to grant him special dispensation to muster the animals and bring them to slaughter at Port Pirie.

"I'm offering a solution, so that instead of killing the animals ... and leaving the carcass to rot and damage the environment, they can leave the camel and I'll take it and process it," he said yesterday.

"It will be much better if they help (muster the camels) but if they don't want to help, it won't obstruct me."

The Gladstone site was selected to take advantage of recent southern migration of the camel population, skilled local workforce and nearby port in Adelaide.

Mr El Ashram is owner of Magdiens Australia, which has operated across the nation for several years as a frozen meat importer. He said there was a well-established international camel meat market, and the product was viewed in much of the world as a low-fat, high-iron alternative to beef.

Mr El Ashram said wild Australian camel fed largely on grasses and would be viewed by buyers as a high-quality "organic" alternative to purpose-farmed stock.

Mr O'Brien said the project "stacks up on virtually every conceivable front" and he would take a "hands-on role" in ensuring its success.

"We've got an issue with literally millions of feral camels," he said yesterday.

"Rebounding from drought, I think the breeding in the next year or two is going to be absolutely staggering. The people on the (APY) Lands, the indigenous population, they're quite keen to be engaged and there are significant employment opportunities for them in doing the mustering."

Mr O'Brien said the current aerial camel execution regime presented spiritual conflicts for some indigenous groups in the state's Far North.

He pledged to speak with his federal counterparts about altering the Australian Feral Camel Management Project to help bring the animals to commercial slaughter.

"I'm more than keen to intervene with the Commonwealth and put this proposal to them, and I think they'd be favourably predisposed," Mr O'Brien said.

A spokeswoman for Federal Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig said any serious proposals to deal with the feral camel problem would be considered.

"Feral camels are a growing problem in Australia's rangelands," she said. "The Government acknowledges there may be a variety of ways to deal with the problem. This is a commercial decision. The Government will look at any serious proposals put to it."

Port Pirie Mayor Brenton Vanstone said full approvals could be granted within months. Mr Vanstone said the abattoir could lead to development of a feed industry, cannery or hide processing plant.

However, he said the region had often been promised projects which later fell through and he feared unrest in Egypt could lead to a finance freeze.

"Something like this is a real catalyst and something we desperately need," he said.