Latest news with #Peru-based
The Hindu
4 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
The Hindu Morning Digest, August 4, 2025
Top Trump aide accuses India of financing Russia's war in Ukraine A top aide to U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday (August 3, 2025) accused India of effectively financing Russia's war in Ukraine by purchasing oil from Moscow, after the U.S. leader escalated pressure on New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil. 'What he (Trump) said very clearly is that it is not acceptable for India to continue financing this war by purchasing the oil from Russia,' said Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff at the White House and one of Mr. Trump's most influential aides. SIR brings the INDIA bloc together for first physical meeting since June 2024 United in their opposition to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the INDIA bloc partners will meet together outside Parliament for the first time in 14 months on Thursday (August 7, 2025) , when they are set to gather at the Delhi residence of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. NDA seeks legal action against Tejashwi Yadav for allegedly holding two Voter ID cards The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Sunday (August 3, 2025) urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take cognisance of the two voter ID cards allegedly possessed by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar AssemblyTejashwi Yadav, and file a case against him. Bio-fortified potatoes to hit Indian market soon Bio-fortified potatoes, with added iron content, will soon be available in Indian markets, said Dr. Simon Heck, Director General of the Peru-based International Potato Center (CIP), in an interview to The Hindu. Bio-fortified sweet potatoes, additionally added Vitamin A using technology developed by the CIP, are already available in Karnataka, Assam, West Bengal and Odisha, and the CIP will take efforts to make available the seeds of bio-fortified sweet potato to more farmers, said Dr. Heck. He is in India as part of the establishment of the South Asia regional centre of the CIP in Agra. IND vs ENG fifth Test: Root, Brook take England closer to record chase As Joe Root and Jacob Bethell walked out for the final session, not many expected India to fight back. Until then, Root and Harry Brook made batting look easy as the hosts inched closer to chasing down a massive 374 and set a record at The Oval on the fourth day of the fifth Test. But 30 minutes into the post-tea session on Sunday, things changed dramatically as England lost two quick wickets and was struggling at 339 for six, still 35 runs away from the victory, before rain forced an early end. Philippines President Marcos Jr. to visit India as two sides deepen maritime cooperation In a move aimed at deepening maritime cooperation with the southeast Asian region, India will host Philippines President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. from August 4 to 8. This will be the first visit by President Marcos Jr, son of the late President Ferdinand Marcos who visited India in 1976. New U.K. law to target gangs pushing illegal immigration with social media advertisements The U.K. on Sunday (August 3, 2025) unveiled plans for a new law that will crack down on criminal gangs behind social media advertisements promoting dangerous small boat crossings and other forms of illegal immigration into the country. Sixty-eight African migrants killed as boat capsises off Yemen A boat capsized on Sunday (August 3, 2025) in waters off Yemen's coast, leaving 68 African migrants dead and 74 others missing, the U.N.'s migration agency said. The tragedy was the latest in a series of shipwrecks off Yemen that have killed hundreds of African migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in hopes of reaching the wealthy Gulf Arab countries. Press Club of India seeks withdrawal of FIR against journalist in Himachal Pradesh The Press Club of India (PCI) on Sunday (August 3, 2025) urged Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to intervene and withdraw a first information report (FIR) registered by the Shimla police against a journalist and a news portal. The Club criticised the police action against journalist Sanjeev Sharma and the news portal Samwad Bharat, terming it 'a clear attempt to intimidate and silence independent journalism'. Opposition rejects Odisha Police claim in minor girl's death in Puri Opposition parties intensified their criticism of the Mohan Majhi-led government, rejecting the Odisha Police's claim that no one was involved in the incident in which a 15-year-old girl from Puri district died of burn injuries allegedly inflicted by miscreants. Following the post-mortem conducted at AIIMS, New Delhi, the girl's body was brought to her native village under Balanga police station limits in Puri district for burial.
The Hindu
4 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Bio-fortified potatoes to hit Indian market soon
Bio-fortified potatoes, with added iron content, will soon be available in Indian markets, said Dr. Simon Heck, Director General of the Peru-based International Potato Center (CIP), in an interview to The Hindu. Bio-fortified sweet potatoes, additionally added Vitamin A using technology developed by the CIP, are already available in Karnataka, Assam, West Bengal and Odisha, and the CIP will take efforts to make available the seeds of bio-fortified sweet potato to more farmers, said Dr. Heck. He is in India as part of the establishment of the South Asia regional centre of the CIP in Agra. Dr. Heck expressed the hope that the centre will help farmers to access better quality potato and sweet potato seeds and better access to the market. The CIP believes that the location outside Agra, in the heart of the potato belt of India, is ideal for the new centre, as the Indo-Gangetic plains are the largest potato-producing area in the world. Dr. Heck said the Government of Uttar Pradesh had made available the land and handed it over to the National Horticulture Board, which invited the CIP to establish a centre. This agreement between the CIP and the Union Agriculture Ministry was signed in the last week of July. It was set up at the demand from the Government of India in recognition of the potential for economic growth and the value generated from the growing potato sector. Dr. Heck said India had the strongest momentum for potato production. 'It may be noted that international companies, especially potato firms from Europe and North America, are increasingly investing in potato production in India,' he said. Part of market chain Dr. Heck said farmers wanted better varieties of potatoes that grew well with fewer agrochemical inputs, and they also wanted to be part of the market chain, including food processing. 'What they needed was access to potato seed of the right quality, of the right variety, and at the right time of the year. There are constraints. They don't have enough potato seeds, or they come too late for planting, or they are not of good quality. We need to build the capacity for companies to multiply potato seeds. That will be a major contribution of the CIP,' he said. The CIP was working with private companies and public research institutes to make sure that throughout the chain, right from the initial breeding of new varieties, through multiplication every year, in the right locations, farmers throughout India would have access to good quality planting material. He said the CIP would also ensure that the vulnerable parts of society had access to nutritious potatoes. There were a number of opportunities along that road, one of which was to work with the government, with public sector food procurement, for school feeding, such as mid-day meals, to link nutritious potatoes into those programmes, more specifically and consistently, to give children access to that. 'Another one was to breed a more nutritious potato,' Dr. Heck said. The focus was on iron fortification in potatoes. 'We have already shared the germ plasm with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research's [ICAR] Central Potato Institute in Shimla. The first variety has been released in Peru, because iron deficiency is even higher in Peru. Now it is under the evaluation of the ICAR, and it needs to be adapted to the Indian growing conditions,' he said. He said bio-fortified sweet potatoes with added Vitamin A were being grown by farmers in Odisha, West Bengal, Karnataka and Assam. 'It is already widely produced. They are bright orange inside,' he said. Coordination committee The CIP regional centre would be governed by a coordination committee that comprises the Secretaries of Agriculture of India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The CIP would also study the market in the region that failed to provide adequate prices for potatoes. 'The open market has the glut or sometimes the shortage. The government needs to step in there through market boards and see how they can anticipate supplies ahead of time. New varieties can also expand the window seasonality so that not everybody harvests on the same day or in the same week. That will help with stabilising the price and the supplies,' he said. On the growing consumption of sweet potatoes around the world, he said it was a tropical crop, unlike potatoes. 'The prospects are very strong for India to be a global supplier of sweet potato. You need to stabilise sweet potatoes through some kind of processing early on. It can be stored without refrigeration, without any chemical additives, for two years. So, for India, places in Africa, that is a very interesting product, from a commercial point of view. It is a final product. You can eat it like that in a school meal and is highly nutritious. It is for the food industry to further utilise it in baking and confectionaries,' Dr. Heck said.
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pacasmayo: Q2 Earnings Snapshot
LIMA, Peru (AP) — LIMA, Peru (AP) — Cementos Pacasmayo SAA (CPAC) on Monday reported earnings of $13.1 million in its second quarter. The Lima, Peru-based company said it had profit of 15 cents per share. The cement provider posted revenue of $132.4 million in the period. _____ This story was generated by Automated Insights ( using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on CPAC at Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
San Francisco Chronicle
22-07-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Pacasmayo: Q2 Earnings Snapshot
LIMA, Peru (AP) — LIMA, Peru (AP) — Cementos Pacasmayo SAA (CPAC) on Monday reported earnings of $13.1 million in its second quarter. The Lima, Peru-based company said it had profit of 15 cents per share. The cement provider posted revenue of $132.4 million in the period.
Indian Express
26-06-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Union Cabinet approves global potato research center in Agra: What is the significance?
The Union Cabinet approved a proposal on Wednesday (June 25) to set up a regional wing of the Peru-based International Potato Center (CIP), a premier research-for-development organisation with a focus on the potato and sweet potato. The proposed CIP-South Asia Regional Center (CSARC) will come up at Singna in Agra district, and cater not only to farmers in India's potato belt states, like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, but also to South Asian countries. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath wrote to Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on January 20, urging him to direct ministry officials to facilitate the early establishment of the center. Here is what to know. Headquartered in Lima, Peru, the CIP was founded in 1971 with a focus on the potato, sweet potato and Andean roots and tubers. Notably, the potato crop is native to the Peruvian-Bolivian Andes in Latin America, and was spread across the globe by the Spaniards and the Portuguese who colonised the continent. Potatoes reached India in the 17th century. The CIP is engaged in South America, Africa and Asia. It commenced its work in India in 1975, signing an initial agreement for cooperation on potatoes and sweet potatoes with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). What functions will it carry out? The Union Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved a proposal from the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare to establish the CSARC. 'The major objective of this investment is to increase food and nutrition security, farmers income, and job creation by improving potato and sweet potato productivity, post-harvest management and value-addition,' an official statement said. The CSARC will focus on the development of new varieties which will be climate resilient, disease-free, and suitable for processing. It will bring global science expertise, an extensive global innovation network and global genetic resources, sources said. The entire project costs Rs 171 crore, with India contributing Rs 111.5 crore and the remaining Rs 60 crore funded by the CIP. The UP government has provided 10 hectares of land for it. Why is the move significant? The potato is the third most available food crop in the world, after rice and wheat, while sweet potato is in the 6th position after maize and cassava. Though India is the second largest potato producer in the world, followed by China, its average yield is 25 tonnes per hectare — about half of its potential of over 50 tonnes per hectare. India's sweet potato yield is just 11.5 tonnes per hectare, which is much less than the potential of 30 tonnes per hectare. With the establishment of the CSARC, India will have access to the largest global collection of germplasm (the cells or tissues from which a new organism can be generated) available with the CIP, a source said. 'Establishment of this center will boost domestic potato seed production, thereby reducing India's dependence on seed imports from neighbouring countries', the source added. It will also help increase the potential for exporting the potato and sweet potato products from India to international markets, and aid local food processing industries in increasing investments in processing and value addition. Is this the first time that a wing is being established outside Peru? The proposed Agra center comes eight years after China set up a similar CIP wing. Known as the China Center for Asia Pacific (CCCAP), it was established in Yanqing, Beijing, in 2017. The center serves China, East Asia and the Pacific regions. The proposed CSARC will be the second major international agricultural research institution to set up operations in India. In 2017, the Agriculture Ministry supported the establishment of a regional centre of the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The IRRI-SARC is established in Varanasi. China is the top potato producer and consumer in the world, followed by India. In 2020, China's production was recorded at 78.24 million tonnes, while India produced 51.30 million tonnes. Both countries together accounted for over one-third of the global potato production (359.07 million tonnes). In India, Uttar Pradesh (15 million tonnes), West Bengal (15 million tonnes) and Bihar (9 million tonnes) were the top three potato producers in 2020-21. Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab also have significant production. As of now, at least two different ICAR centres work on tuber crops. While the Shimla-based ICAR-CPRI (Central Potato Research Institute) is working on the potato, the Thiruvananthapuram-based ICAR-CTCRI (Central Tuber Crops Research Institute) is working on the sweet potato. Harikishan Sharma, Senior Assistant Editor at The Indian Express' National Bureau, specializes in reporting on governance, policy, and data. He covers the Prime Minister's Office and pivotal central ministries, such as the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, Ministry of Cooperation, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Rural Development, and Ministry of Jal Shakti. His work primarily revolves around reporting and policy analysis. In addition to this, he authors a weekly column titled "STATE-ISTICALLY SPEAKING," which is prominently featured on The Indian Express website. In this column, he immerses readers in narratives deeply rooted in socio-economic, political, and electoral data, providing insightful perspectives on these critical aspects of governance and society. ... Read More
