The Jollibee Group Foundation (JGF) has received national recognition for a farming initiative that places agricultural innovation in the hands of farmers themselves. Its Agri-Tech Facilitators (ATF) Program won the Outstanding CSR Project in Enterprise Development category at the 2026 League of Corporate Foundations CSR Guild Awards, recognizing its contribution to strengthening smallholder farming communities through peer-led learning.
Rather than relying primarily on external agricultural experts, the program trains experienced farmers to become local facilitators who introduce practical technologies, mentor fellow farmers, and encourage the adoption of climate-smart farming practices within their own communities.
Why did the Agri-Tech Facilitators Program receive the award?
The League of Corporate Foundations recognized the program for promoting a sustainable approach to agricultural development, where farmers take an active role in sharing knowledge and introducing innovations suited to local conditions.
The Agri-Tech Facilitators Program forms part of JGF's Farmer Entrepreneurship Program (FEP), which helps smallholder farmers improve productivity while connecting them with institutional buyers, including the Jollibee Group's supply chain.
Instead of depending solely on periodic technical assistance, the initiative develops farmer leaders capable of:
- Testing new agricultural technologies
- Demonstrating climate-smart farming practices
- Mentoring fellow farmers
- Leading community-based agricultural projects
- Encouraging technology adoption within cooperatives
According to JGF President Gisela Tiongson, empowering farmers to become mentors and problem-solvers helps communities sustain agricultural innovations over the long term.
What is farmer-led agricultural extension?
Farmer-led agricultural extension is a development approach where trained farmers share practical knowledge, technologies, and farming techniques directly with other farmers.
Unlike traditional extension programs that rely mainly on government or academic experts, this model leverages local experience and peer learning, making it easier for communities to adopt practices that fit their environment and resources.
The approach is increasingly recognized as an effective way to improve knowledge sharing, strengthen local leadership, and encourage long-term adoption of agricultural innovations.
How the program builds local agricultural leaders
Participants undergo a combination of classroom instruction, field-based learning, mentoring, and community practicums before becoming certified Agri-Tech Facilitators.
Training covers several key areas, including:
- Climate-smart agriculture
- Agricultural extension
- Participatory technology development
- Project implementation
- Proposal writing
- Community facilitation
To improve accessibility, learning materials were translated into Filipino, enabling participants to better apply and share their knowledge within their communities.
The program was developed in partnership with several academic institutions. Ateneo de Cagayan – Xavier University helped design and deliver the training, while Central Luzon State University contributed to the development of learning modules. Meanwhile, the University of the Philippines Los Baños conducted a formative evaluation to assess the program's effectiveness in strengthening participants' leadership, facilitation, and technical skills.
What results has the program achieved?
Since its pilot implementation, the initiative has:
- Trained and certified 18 Agri-Tech Facilitators
- Established 14 agricultural technology demonstration projects
- Shared farming innovations with more than 200 farmers
Demonstration projects introduced technologies such as rain shelters, greenhouse production, drip irrigation, vermicomposting, and green manuring.
The projects also produced measurable improvements in farm productivity.
Rain shelter technology
One facilitator in Laguna introduced rain shelter technology for cabbage farming after experiencing repeated weather-related crop losses.
According to the project results:
- Growing period Reduced from 120 days to 90–105 days
- Marketable harvest Increased from 30 kg to 174 kg
The farmer has since shared the technology with other growers in the community.
Greenhouse tomato production
Another demonstration project showed how greenhouse cultivation improved tomato production:
- Yield increased by 79%
- Plant survival improved from 83.2% to 95.2%
- Production cost per kilogram reduced by 32%
- Net income increased nearly tenfold compared with open-field farming
These results demonstrate how practical technologies, when combined with peer mentoring, can improve farm productivity and profitability.
Why climate-smart farming matters
Climate-smart agriculture refers to farming practices that help increase productivity while improving resilience to climate-related risks such as extreme weather, changing rainfall patterns, and rising temperatures.
For many smallholder farmers in the Philippines, adopting climate-resilient technologies can help reduce crop losses, improve resource efficiency, and strengthen long-term food production.
Programs that encourage farmer-to-farmer learning may also accelerate the spread of practical innovations because participants often trust techniques demonstrated by fellow farmers working under similar conditions.
Smallholder farmers play an important role in the country's food supply, but many continue to face challenges related to climate change, access to technology, and market opportunities.
Initiatives that combine technical training, peer mentoring, and market linkages can help strengthen rural livelihoods while improving agricultural productivity.
By encouraging farmers to become educators and community leaders, the Agri-Tech Facilitators Program supports a more sustainable model of agricultural development that extends beyond individual farms.
The Jollibee Group Foundation's recognition at the 2026 CSR Guild Awards reflects the growing importance of community-driven agricultural development. Through the Agri-Tech Facilitators Program, farmer leaders are equipped not only with technical knowledge but also with the skills to guide others in adopting practical and climate-smart farming practices.
As agriculture continues to face environmental and economic challenges, farmer-led learning models may become increasingly valuable in helping rural communities build resilience, improve productivity, and strengthen participation in institutional markets.