The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has honoured 100 Women Heroes in Agrifood Systems and Rural Development, recognising women around the world whose work is making a difference to farming, food and rural communities.
The initiative marks the International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026. The ceremony at FAO headquarters in Rome, part of the World Food Forum, was held on 15 October, the International Day of Rural Women, which recognises the role of rural women in agriculture, food security and the fight against rural poverty.
FAO had announced 99 of the honourees in the days before the event and named the 100th at the ceremony: Yin Yuzhen of China, recognised for decades of work to restore degraded land in the Mu Us Sandy Land. What began with planting trees in an area threatened by the desert has helped restore nearly 5,000 hectares around her home, with more than eight million trees planted across the area, supporting farming and local livelihoods.
FAO received 609 nominations from 131 member countries, with the number each country could submit set by population. Nominations were screened against the rules and quotas, ranked by senior management and put through two further rounds of review for quality, balance and representation before the final list was approved by FAO's Senior Leadership Committee.
The women come from different regions and professions: farmers, entrepreneurs, researchers, educators and community leaders who produce food, protect natural resources, advance science, run businesses and support rural communities. Opening the ceremony, Director-General Qu Dongyu recalled his grandmother, who raised him in a small Chinese village and taught him to farm and cook. "Everything I learned from her, she learned from the generations of women who came before her," he said.
Source: FAO Newsroom
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