A woman in Spain has found unexpected fame on social media after many found she bore a striking resemblance to US President Donald Trump.

Thousands of responses flooded in last week after a journalist reporting on farming in northwestern Spain posted on Instagram a picture of Dolores Leis dressed in farm clothing with a hoe over her shoulder.

Freelance journalist Paula Vazquez shared the image of Ms Leis, who lives on a farm in Cabana de Bergantinos district, thinking nothing of it.

The picture has since been shared thousands of times on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, all of which noted her likeness to President Trump.

Some even began referring to her as “the cousin that Donald Trump has in Galicia.”

“Dolores was going to her farm to pick some cabbages,” Ms Vazquez told Spanish news site Faro de Vigo on Tuesday.

“So I talked with her for a while, while a girlfriend was taking pictures of her, I took the opportunity to take another one [photo] with my cellphone.”

The 70-year-old has since been asked to comment on pressing US policy and international issues – though she has shown more concern for a moth plague threatening her potato crops.

“I say that it must be because of the colour of the hair,” Ms Leis told the La Voz de Galicia newspaper on Tuesday.

She added she doesn’t use a mobile phone and has little interest in online chatter.

-with AAP