ACES NATURAL FARMING TECHNOLOGY 1 COURSE INTRODUCTION

ACES POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE-PANABO CITY

The ACES Polytechnic College System is composed of a network of three campuses. The Main Campus as shown is located in Panabo City and large campus of ACES Tagum is situated in the heart of the City of Tagum, both in the province of Davao del Norte. The other campus is  in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley.

The School System offers Technical and Vocational Courses under TESDA and Higher Education Courses under CHED. The vision and mission of the school is focused on the family and student development .It also implements high social responsibility programs/projects supporting the needs of the community, such as the Mariculture program, Chambers of Commerce projects and  active participation in a program on Transparency and Accountability in Governance.
 
The latest addition to the programs that the ACES PC through its President and CEO DR. FRANCISCO P. DE LA PEÑA, JR.   is presently implementing is the ACES NATURAL FARMING TECHNOLOGY COURSE LEVEL I. This is envisioned to provide livelihood and additional income to the participants immediately upon finishing the three- level course.. 

ACES NATURAL FARMING TECHNOLOGY 1 (ANFT!) COURSE is an INSTITUTIONAL COURSE OFFERING and  a TESDA registered program with Certificate of Registration  (NTR)  issued by TESDA Region 11.( This was prior to the promulgation of Organic Agriculture Production NC II. The ACES Natural Farming Technology Course became the major source of inputs to the formulation of the Training regulation) As a registered program, it adheres to the standard training procedures set by TESDA in consultutation with ACES Polytechnic College system. The course is  registered under the No Training Regulation (NTR) system  as there is no existing TESDA Training Regulation  pertaining to organic and natural farming technology. With the issuance of the Certificate of Registration under the NTR category, the ACES Polytechnic College becomes the initiator and leader in the training  on Natural Farming Technology in the Philippines.


The ANFT 1 is run by the ACES Natural Farming Institute of the ACES Polytechnic College with a 1.4 hectare facility in Barangay Padi, Panabo City which is  about 300 meters distance from the main campus of ACES Polytechnic College. The institute has a 50- head hog farm, a 3,000 basilir cross-bred  chicken farm, solar drier, feed mixer, feed pelletizing machine, incubator and a laboratory for research and production of natural growth enhancers, natural meat taste enhancer, organic immune system booster. It is important to note that inside the institute,  burning of garbage, application of antibiotics and vaccination is not and never will be  allowed.

Bio-security also known as  bio-defense system is applied in the farm. It utilizes Indigenous Micro-organisms from the soil, enzymes in plants, fruits and other naturally available materials to produce an army of micro-organisms to protect the farm from non- beneficial bacteria and viruses. This means that chemical- based foot baths and sprays are not used in the ACES Natural Farming Institute.

As a gesture of support from the community, the Alliance of Concerned
Entrepreneurs for Food Security is organized with the end- in view to advocate for the expansion of the training in Natural Farming Technology throughout the country

DR. FRANCISCO DE LA PEÑA,Jr , TESDA R 11 RD GASPAR GAYONA, PD URBANO BUDTAN , ENGR  RICO PELIGRO,ACE FS CO-CHAIR , ACE FS GM VIANNEY GAROL, DA 11 ARD ROMULO FALCON, DR. SILVANO MARANGA, DURING THE OFFICIAL ISSUANCE OF CERTIFICATE OF PROGRAM REGISTRATION OF ACES NATURAL FARMING TECHNOLOGY COURSE LEVEL1

The following is a list of learning objectives that a participant to the ACES Natural Farming Technology Level 1 course is expected to learn. The course is divided into three competencies namely a. basic b. common and core competencies. The division provides better learning conditions for the students and a practical way of teaching the course. This is a system of instruction utilized by TESDA to develop the tech-voc institutions in the country. The learning objectives are:
1. Participate in community meetings
2. Identify own role and responsibility within a team
3. Explain the inter-relationship between plant and animal life and the role of micro-organisms
4. Define natural ways of animal behavior in relation to feeding, movements and environment 
5.  Capture indigenous micro-organisms and increase its numbers
6  Identify  plants with high protein content for animal and plant growth.

7. Extract enzymes from plants, fruits , fish and other appropriate sources
8. Use volume and weight measures
9.  Apply natural growth enhancers, organic foul odor eliminator, organic immune system booster and bio -security in the farm
10. Apply vermiculture as natural farming component
11.  Construct  pig pen and chicken house with natural farming technology
12. Select and bred stock
13.  Mix feeds for hogs, chicken and fish
14.   Feed the animals and poultry together with proper drinking mixtures
15.   Perform preventive and therapeutic measures
16.   Apply appropriate safety measures
17. Safekeep / dispose tools, materials and outfit
18.  Discuss business plan and earning potential of natural farming methods
19. Integrate personal objectives with community endeavours
20. Implement a livelihood and income generating project through natural farming technology

The course runs for an initial of 3- days with 15-days follow-ups to ensure that the skills acquired during the training will be implemented properly by the participants. This is a hands-on training at a 70%-30 % ratio to practical applications and theory.


The ACES Institute of Natural Farming advocates for the utilization of native breed of chicken such as the  basilan and the cross between the basilan, cabir and the cobra. This combination produces  tasty chicken meat and with the organic feed formulation used in feeding  the chicken results in a healthy organically grown chicken.

A model hog pen and chicken house used in the ACES natural farming technology institute  provides a good training in foul odor control. It is noteworthy to mention that flies do not linger in the hog waste and hogs are not bathed in water as practiced in traditional hog raising methods.

At  ACES Natural Farming Institute,  it is not only TO SEE IS TO BELIEVE, but also TO TASTE THE ORGANIC LECHON, CHICKEN and BANGUS IS TO BELIEVE and now to TO EARN IS TO BELIEVE, as DR. FRANCISCO P. DE LA PEÑA, JR.  declares the viability of the project.

ACES Natural Farming Institute of ACES Polytechnic College is recognized as a Partner of Agricultural Training Institute of the Department of Agriculture with the issuance of the National Level Certificate of Accreditation as Private Extension Service Provider.