Zamorano Researchers Contribute Chapter to International Handbook on Women Farmers

Credits: Asociación de Mujeres Intibucanas Renovadas (AMIR)

Zamorano University continues to contribute to global knowledge on rural development and gender equity. Two of its researchers, Francis Denisse McLean-Rodríguez and Arie Sanders, authored the chapter “Women Smallholder Farmers Growing Horticultural Crops” in the book Women and Smallholder Farming: Addressing Global Inequities in Agriculture, edited by Carolyn Sachs (Penn State University) and Paige Castellanos (Oxfam America).

Published by Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing in September 2025, the volume brings together research from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, exploring both the structural challenges and the opportunities faced by women smallholder farmers in advancing sustainable agriculture.

The chapter developed by Zamorano faculty highlights the experience of women vegetable producers in western Honduras, members of the Association of Renewed Intibucan Women (AMIR). Drawing on a feminist and materialist sociology perspective, the study examines how horticultural production drives economic, social, and political empowerment among rural women, strengthening their leadership and their contributions to the sustainability of local food systems.

Fieldwork was conducted in the department of Intibucá, Honduras, while the analysis and writing were carried out at Zamorano University, underscoring the institution’s ongoing commitment to applied research and to transforming agri-food systems across Latin America.

Through this publication, Zamorano reaffirms its role as a regional academic leader in rural development, gender studies, and sustainable agriculture, providing valuable evidence on the realities and contributions of women producers in rural and Indigenous contexts.

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