Some West African farmers turn to TikTok as part of agriculture's changing image

Some West African farmers turn to TikTok as part of agriculture's changing image Some farmers in West Africa have turned to TikTok to sell their produce, transforming how they do business By JACK THOMPSON Associated Press March 4, 2026, 12:55 AM DAKAR, Senegal -- When Senegalese farmer Pape Fall first downloaded TikTok, it was to watch football and funny videos. In the last two years, however, he's experimented with it to promote his produce and now sells most of it via the platform. A looped video on his TikTok profile shows a pile of cucumbers with slow-paced Senegalese rap playing in the background. A caption reads: “1.5 tonnes, available tomorrow, god willing.” It includes his phone number. Fall is one of millions of farmers in West Africa believed to be using TikTok and other social media to do business, share ideas and change the perception of agriculture as the work of poor people in this part of the world. They and experts acknowledge the region is plagued by high levels of hunger and poverty that have been worsened by the loss of foreign funding from the U.S. and other donors. But they say the improved knowledge and market access that come with social media has resulted in better yields. The average farm in Senegal income is $1,000 a year, according to a study by the International Food Policy Research Institute published in 2017, but successful farming entrepreneurs can make up to $3,000-$4,500. “Social media is democratizing access to information for farmers,” said Abbie Phatty-Jobe, a specialist in digital agriculture for Caribou, a U.K.-based private research company that is the first to look into regional farmers' use of TikTok. Caribou has helped to establish a network of 24 agri-influencers across 11 countries in Africa whose content reaches a combined 5 million people. They help to turn scientific research into information more accessible for farmers. Fall recalled watching a Moroccan farmer on TikTok talk about a common cucumber mistake: cutting the...