A manufacturing facility for drip and sprinkler irrigation products in the city established by a joint venture of India’s Skipper Ltd and Israel’s Metzer was inaugurated on Monday.

The first phase of the project of Skipper-Metzer India LLP (SMIL) has entailed an investment of ₹20 crore and over a decade, this is expected to touch ₹130 crore.

While production from the project’s first phase would begin later this year, the company has hired several categories of manpower across India and locally too, a release from Skipper said on Tuesday.

CEO K. Radha Krishna said the plant is intended to manufacture and supply full range drip and sprinkler irrigation systems to Indian farmers in various States under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) and in open markets. The facility would also serve markets in the SAARC countries.

The facility, on 2.50 acres, has an annual manufacturing capacity of 880 lakh meters/annum of various drip and sprinkler irrigation products. According to the release, the plant incorporates cutting-edge Israeli technologies and is designed with the flexibility to enable smart, connected manufacturing technologies which would support the improved process efficiency, delivery and quality.

On Monday, an on-site ribbon-cutting ceremony was held. Hugo Chaufan, chairman of Metzer Group, and S.K. Bansal, managing director of Skipper Ltd, inaugurated the facility in the presence of senior executives from both the entities.

Mr. Chaufan said Metzer would support the SMIL by supplying superior, technologically-advanced micro irrigation systems to the Indian markets by giving access to latest products and technologies developed by Metzer from time to time.