FAO and World Food Prize honor Latin American female farmers

Eodora Méndez, a Lenca farmer from Intibucá, Honduras, has been named one of the 100 heroes of food and rural development by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Recognized during the World Food Forum in Rome, Méndez was honored for her 30 years of work supporting small producers and improving rural livelihoods, an effort that has benefited approximately 325 families.

In a separate recognition, Josselyn Verónica Vega Rojas, a 29-year-old Kichwa Panzaleo indigenous leader from Cotopaxi, Ecuador, received the Top Agri-food Pioneers 2026 award from the World Food Prize Foundation. The ceremony, held in Des Moines, Iowa, coincided with the Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue. Vega participated in a panel discussing climate change, ancestral knowledge, and the systemic inequalities faced by women in food production.