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The purpose of this article is to examine the capacity of national supply systems in Africa to meet rapidly increasing demand in the cities, based on a case study in Conakry, Guinea. This analysis focusing on the actors, their objectives and strategies, draws on surveys carried out in Conakry, the national capital and two other cities, Kankan and Labé. Two products were chosen to illustrate the study, because of their position and importance in urban consumption: rice, the staple diet in both city and country, and onion, almost always used in the sauces accompanying the main dish.Although imports continue to play a major role, there has been a rapid growth in production and marketing of both products in urban centres over several years. As in the rest of Africa, the success of local products is due more to farmers’ endogenous initiatives, than to high cost imported models based on intensive and expensive farming techniques. Marketing is undertaken by traders organized within the framework of sometimes ancient, fast changing networks. There are still many constraints on production, including the chronic political instability in the region. Yet, production growth provides convincing evidence of the dynamism of local networks.