Fidel Castro gives awards to food production workers: report

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has handed awards to a group of workers for their outstanding work in food production, the official Granma daily reported Saturday.

Published with three photos of the revolutionary leader, the report said Castro attended a meeting on Thursday in Havana "with officers and civilian employees of the Interior Ministry and the Revolutionary Armed Forces."

At the meeting, he "presented certificates of recognition for their work in producing food," added the report.

The pictures show that the former president, 88, sits at a table surrounded by several generals and other senior officers, as well as some civilian workers.

"In a lively exchange with the audience," according to the report, Castro talked about the accelerated growth of the world population, climate change, increasing water scarcity, international conflicts and rising food prices.

Castro stressed "the importance of increasing food production, the application of science and its influence on the reproduction and development of livestock," said the report.

On July 4, the Cuban press reported a visit by Castro to the headquarters of the Research Institute of the Food Industry in a town near Havana, where he talked with a group of cheese masters.

Castro handed over power to his brother in June 2006 for health reasons. Since then the former leader has seldom appeared in public. Endi