The Itamarati Rural Development Centre has introduced aquaponics systems in schools in the Itamarati settlement, Central-West of Brazil , to promote social technolog ies to the vulnerable . Th is study was conducted to understand issues that encourage or discourage rural youth from practicing aquaponics. A questionnaire was designed to rank constraints and opportunities , based on 9 categorical variables, and 36 statements, equally divided into 12 themes (V) (Table 1) . Each V was baptis ed a priori according to the content of statements. The scale (0=disagree; 1=slightly agree; 2=agree; 3= strongly agree) allow ed a sum for e ach V (maximum score per V=9). I nterviews were carried out in 2023 with 87 adolescents (ag ed ~15 to 17 ), fairly distributed in 3 public schools. A significant part or most of their family income (40%; 38%) came from agricultural activities. 53% were enthusiastic about agricultural activities , 37% were unsure. 39% were uncertain about their desire to work with agriculture/livestock as a profession, 31% did not want to and 30% wanted to. 55% had a fair idea about the functioning and usefulness of aquaponics , 41% had little idea and 4% were sure. 68% visited the system in their school at least ten times . 89% did not have an aquaponics system at home . 62% of respondents were female. V 1 and V 9 presented the lowest scores. V6 was ranked first (the highest concern), l ikely due to the small size (500 L), number (~10) of Nile tilapia and vegetables , and because short supply chains are incipient. V4 ranked second, associated with the male/female categorical variable (P<0.05) , suggesting that female youth perceived a greater need for technical assistance or aversion to risk. Overall, M ood´s m edian test and discriminant analyses revealed week associations of categorical variables with V, and scores of V1 and V9 were highly converge nt among adolescents. S everal findings were supported by the literature. Cost , income , advice , aspects for acquisition, maintenance, i nfrastructure and time available deserve attention in educational initiatives aimed at rural youth and aquaponics.