Makhteshim-Agan to double capacity of Indian Production Plant

Makhteshim-Agan is finalising plans to double the capacity of its Indian manufacturing facility at Dahej, expecting a growth in domestic demand for herbicide, fungicide and weedicide in the coming years.

The plant, which has a capacity of 1.20 lakh litres a day, will be adding another 1.20 lakh litres a day capacity, half of which will be for production of herbicide products.

“We will invest about Rs 110 crore for the doubling of capacity,” Josef Goldshmidt, President and CEO of Makhteshim Agan India, told press persons.

The Israeli Ambassador to India Alon Ushpiz visited the facility.

The company, which has a global portfolio of 75 different products, has introduced special products suited for Indian agro-climate.

It also operates an R&D facility in Hyderabad, its only research facility outside Israel.

It has a network of 38 warehouses across the country for effective delivery of its products to farmers.

Goldshmidt said the research facility was also being ramped up, with plans to bring out two to three new products every year, both for the Indian and global markets.

It recently launched an insecticide product ‘plethora’ and a herbicide product ‘agil’, which are also being marketed overseas.

Ushpiz said under a three-year Indo-Israel cooperation programme in agriculture, Israel was to supply farm technologies to set up 29 centres of excellence in different States. “These centres are crop- and State-specific, such as the centre of excellence for mangoes in Maharashtra. The idea is to demonstrate to the farmers how technology could increase farm output and help them transfer it to their farms,” the Israeli Ambassador said.

By the end of this year, 15 centres are expected to become operational, with the rest to come up in the next couple of years.