Agricultural innovations create the greatest impact when they are embraced and shared by farmers themselves.

This farmer-led approach earned the Jollibee Group Foundation (JGF), the Outstanding CSR Project in Enterprise Development award at the 2026 League of Corporate Foundations CSR Guild Awards for its Agri-Tech Facilitators (ATF) Program.

Instead of relying solely on occasional technical support from external experts, the ATF Program equips farmer leaders to become local champions who identify, test, adapt, and share practical farming technologies and climate-smart practices within their own cooperatives and communities.

“The most meaningful innovations are those that communities can understand, adapt, and sustain themselves,” said Gisela Tiongson, President of Jollibee Group Foundation. 

“Through the Agri-Tech Facilitators Program, farmer leaders are not only learning new technologies, but also becoming mentors, problem-solvers, and trusted sources of knowledge within their communities. By enabling farmers to lead the adoption and share locally relevant solutions, we create lasting impact that extends far beyond individual farms. We share this recognition with our farmer leaders and our partners, whose commitment continues to strengthen and build more resilient farming communities.”

Building local champions of innovation

The ATF Program is part of JGF's flagship program, the Farmer Entrepreneurship Program (FEP), which helps smallholder farmers strengthen their competitiveness while supplying institutional markets such as the Jollibee Group. It was developed in response to the growing demand from farmers for greater access to practical and appropriate agricultural technologies tailored to the needs of smallholder farmers.

The program develops farmer leaders through classroom learning, hands-on fieldwork, mentoring, and community-based practicum. Participants gain skills in agricultural extension, climate-smart agriculture, participatory technology development, proposal writing, project implementation, and facilitation before applying these learnings in real farming communities. Training materials were also translated into Filipino to improve accessibility.

Since its pilot implementation, the Agri-Tech Facilitators Program has trained and certified 18 farmer leaders as community-based agri-tech facilitators. These facilitators have gone on to develop and implement 14 agri-tech demonstration projects featuring practical innovations such as rain shelters, greenhouse production, drip irrigation, vermicomposting, and green manuring. Through peer-learning sessions, farm demonstrations, and community engagements, they have also shared these technologies with more than 200 fellow farmers, helping strengthen local capacity for technology adoption and climate-smart agriculture.

From learning to measurable impact

Implemented in partnership with academic institutions, the program combines theories with practical, hands-on learning. Ateneo de Cagayan – Xavier University played a key role in designing and delivering the training, while Central Luzon State University supported the development of the learning modules. University of the Philippines Los Baños also conducted a formative evaluation that validated the training's effectiveness in strengthening farmers' leadership, facilitation, and technical capacities.

The strengthened capacities of Agri-Tech Facilitators translated into practical innovations that delivered measurable results in their communities. In Laguna one Agri-Tech Facilitator introduced rain shelter technology for cabbage production after experiencing severe weather challenges. The innovation reduced the growing period from 120 days to 90–105 days while increasing marketable harvest from 30 kilograms under open-field conditions to 174 kilograms under protected cultivation. Following a previous season of crop failure caused by adverse weather, the farmer was able to harvest successfully and is now helping fellow farmers adopt the same technology.

Another practicum project demonstrated how greenhouse technology increased tomato yield by 79%, improved plant survival from 83.2% to 95.2%, reduced production cost per kilogram by 32%, and nearly tenfold increased net income compared with open-field cultivation.

Creating lasting impact through farmer-led learning

The CSR Guild Awards is a recognition program of the League of Corporate Foundations. It serves as a seal of excellence in corporate citizenship for organizations implementing social development initiatives with a meaningful and sustainable impact on the communities and institutions they serve. 

For the Jollibee Group Foundation, the award recognizes more than a successful training program. It affirms a model that empowers farmers to become educators, innovators, and community leaders.

By strengthening farmer-led learning, technology adoption, and peer mentoring, the Agri-Tech Facilitators Program helps communities become more climate-resilient while supporting long-term participation in institutional markets.

As the Foundation continues to expand opportunities for smallholder farmers, JGF remains committed to making farming a dignified and profitable livelihood by connecting farmers with knowledge, innovation, and market opportunities.