Boonpheng Nasomyon, a Thai farmer from Udon Thani province is one of five farmers to receive the "Asia-Pacific Model Farmers" award from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.
Ms Boonpheng, now 55, received the award for her never-say-die spirit and her bold initiatives which have helped farming in her region and created wealth and jobs.
"It is a long way for me. I was a divorcee and a penniless single mother. I once tried my luck working as a migrant worker in Bangkok and failed. But I finally returned home to rebuild my life as farmer again," said Ms Boonpheng.
Her life reflects the plight of migrant workers who leave their hometown to seek jobs in big cities. However, Ms Boonpheng found Bangkok's high cost of living unmanageable. Financial hardship also contributed to the breakup of her marriage. Finally, she returned home in 2001 to work in rice farming with her family.
With her fighting spirit and strong will to improve not only her life, but those of other local women, she pressed ahead with a project aimed at requesting technical support for occupational training and livelihood development from district and provincial agricultural offices. She also launched community-saving co-operatives and open community business.
Udon Thani Rajabhat University's faculty of business management liked her ideas, and students came to her village to research product development feasibility.
Eventually a total of 14 occupational groups were formed, producing different products based on local wisdom and innovation.
They ranged from snacks and herbal medicines, to agro-tourism, backyard poultry farming, textiles and financial co-operatives, based on the interests of individual members. Ms Boonpheng was now a leader. Four farmers also received this award, three of them female, including Eri Otsu, from Japan, Shafiqa Wahidi from Afghanistan, Indra Kumari Lawati from Nepal and Ulus Pirmawan, a male farmer from Indonesia.
HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, the UN FAO Special Ambassador for Zero Hunger in Asia and the Pacific, who presented the awards to the five recipients, said: "This year's World Food Day theme calls upon us to harness the potential of migration to support development and strengthen receiving and sending rural communities' resilience. This will not happen automatically but as a result of concerted efforts that maximise the positive outcomes of migration while minimising the negative ones."