Netafim's share of the project is worth an estimated $150 million. The first stage of the ethanol project is worth more than $900 million. Netafim has a subsidiary in Brazil.
Netafim agronomists and engineers will serve as advisors through the first stage of the project, which is slated to be completed in 2011.
Netafim recently signed a $22 million contract to supply irrigation equipment to Maple Energy plc (AIM: MPLE) for an 80,000-hectare sugar cane plantation in northern Peru. The crop will be used to produce electricity and ethanol.
Netafim Ltd. has won an exclusive contract with Etanalc SA in Brazil to supply irrigation equipment for a 750,000-acre cane sugar plantation located in the Tocantins State in central Brazil.