IT is widely known that for farmers in general, and those operating in difficult to access farm areas, like those in the puerto rican central cordillera, traveling long distances to obtain training on…

IT is widely known that for farmers in general, and those operating in difficult to access farm areas, like those in the puerto rican central cordillera, traveling long distances to obtain training on production and best practices is an onerous and sometimes dangerous process that discourages active participation. Farmers in the bosque modelo (BM) central cordillera footprint operate in this difficult to access areas. In this project, distance education (DE) technology and training will be used to carryout a successful non-formal education and companionship program that will target agricultural extension service personnel, farmers and communities in remote areas. As a result, farmers will increase and diversify high quality protein and horticultural production through the establishment of aquaponic systems.at the end of this project, the anticipated overall impact will be to have inplace a hub network of five distance education facilities with state of the art technology. These hubs will count with a staff of highly trained team of extension agents and extension leaders. This staff will provide scientifically based non-formal DE training in the areas of DE methods and aquaponic systems within the BM central cordillera footprint.