In August 2025, the FS4Africa project, together with the University of Pretoria (UP) and the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (GDARD), delivered a series of hands-on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) training workshops designed to strengthen food safety from the ground up. These workshops form part of FS4Africa’s wider commitment to improving food safety systems across Africa through interdisciplinary, context-specific, and inclusive approaches, a core principle of the project’s design and objectives.

The event brought together around 100 farmers, and the training combined scientific expertise with creative learning tools to make food safety concepts practical, engaging, and directly relevant to daily farming realities.

A New Approach: Using Theatre to Teach Food Safety

One of the most innovative elements of the training was an interactive theatre performance developed in partnership with UP’s Drama Department. Instead of relying solely on lectures or slides, facilitators used storytelling, role-playing, and scenario-based dialogue to spark discussion about common food safety risks, including water contamination, poor storage practices, and pesticide handling.

This interdisciplinary approach echoes FS4Africa’s commitment to drawing on physical sciences, social sciences, and the humanities (including behavioural insights) to transform food safety systems in Africa.

“Maria’s Harvest”: Learning Through Storytelling

To complement the workshops, FS4Africa developed Maria’s Harvest, a storybook following a fictional smallholder farmer, Maria, who gradually adopts essential food safety practices on her farm. The storybook was used during the GAP workshops.

Download the Maria’s Harvest Storybook:
https://shorturl.at/0gGbw

Download the GAP Training Manual / User Guide:
https://shorturl.at/hz0h8

Building Confidence for Safer Production and Market Access

Feedback from farmers highlighted three recurring themes: the relevance of the training, which spoke directly to the challenges they face daily; the relatability of the theatre-based approach, which made scientific concepts easier to understand and apply; and a strong sense of empowerment, as participants left with greater confidence in implementing Good Agricultural Practices on their farms to improve product safety and expand their market opportunities.

Strengthening small-scale producers is critical to improving food safety, livelihoods, and regional trade, key priorities that FS4Africa addresses through collaborative capacity building and local market transformation.

Watch the Highlights Video

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