IFS opens up for new farmer members
By RMACollo
SITE INSPECTION. The IFS team visiting the farm of a prospective farmer who wishes to practice the agricultural system being promoted by ADTEMPCO.
Three years after its inception, the Integrated Farming System (IFS) Program by ADTEMPCO opens its doors to new members who would like to go into diversified farming.
According to Mr. James Ascano, head of the IFS (now dubbed as the agricultural credit branch of ADTEMPCO), the requirements in enrolling in this agricultural loan program include the following: the applicant must be actively engaged in farming; must be a member of the cooperative; he/she must undergo the required trainings, and is ready to apply the IFS concept.
He also emphasized the importance of site inspection to ensure that the farm is suitable for the activities to be conducted. This is also to determine the interventions to be given if the application is granted.
Ascano said that unlike the original IFS, all successful applicants will be given support through trainings, technical support and farm inputs according to their farm plan. “Cash support would only be concentrated on land preparation,” he added.
IFS is an agricultural system that integrates livestock or fishery into crop production with the aim of using the output of one for the development of the other to lessen costs and maximize production. IFS also emphasizes the development of the farmer not only as a producer but as an entrepreneur and farming as a family enterprise.
In its first phase, 44 farmers from the towns of Tayum, Bangued, Penarrubia, Bucay, Pidigan, San Quintin and Sallpadan enrolled in the IFS program.
