 The overarching purpose of the aquaponic system, design, operation and maintenance training exercise is to build upon the skillset of extension services officers who would work directly with farmers in diversifying the agribusiness. Head of the aquaponic unit within the Department of Fisheries, Vaughn Sarri says, the mission to find solutions to the issues impacting agriculture and fisheries livelihoods is a robust one. Well, firstly, the Fisheries Department will work closely with the Department of Agriculture in identifying suitable niches of which farmers can capitalize on. And secondly, train the officers directly working with farmers in these areas. Aquaponics is one niche if managed well can work to the benefit of sustainable farm based and agriculture livelihoods. Over the upcoming three days, advise you to be attentive and learn as much as you can so your knowledge could be improved. Chief fisheries officer Sarita Williams-Peter says, the aquaponic system design, operation and maintenance training workshop is a cross fertilizer of interventions to support expansion efforts within the agriculture economy, bolstering the capacity of women involved in agriculture and developing the capacity of technical officers within the ministry to cater to the growing needs of agriculture, fisheries and food constituents. For this reason, the Department of Fisheries will be hosting additional exercises in the coming weeks. In August of 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the national policy for the fisheries sector. And one of the key priority areas is aquaculture as well as managing climate. And we know that aquaponics is one of the technologies that can help support bringing us into the future with a very variable climate. In addition, there is a component of institutional support and that by virtue of having officers here from the ministry, agriculture, extension, engineering, aquaculture staff, it allows us to better implement that policy for the sector. It allows us to work collaboratively as a ministry to achieve the policy direction for the sector. Food security remains a top priority point for agriculture leaders as they work assiduously to unveil a suite of interventions to support existing programs to build resilience within the industry and build capacity of aquafood constituents. From the Ministry of Agriculture, this is Amanda Fee-Clock reporting.