Present at the 20th edition of the Africa Food Systems Forum (AFS Forum 2026), held from August 31 to September 4 at the Kigali Convention Centre, ROPPA — the Network of Peasant and Agricultural Producers’ Organizations of West Africa — brought the voices of family farmers from across West Africa to the discussions.On the sidelines of the Forum, the regional network organized a press conference on September 3 focusing on the resilience of farmer-led food systems and the need to redirect agricultural policies and investments.“Investing in Africa’s agrifood systems, feeding nations, creating jobs, building resilience”: this was the theme that brought together public-sector actors, farmers’ organizations, technical and financial partners, researchers and private-sector representatives in Kigali for AFS Forum 2026.Among the key stakeholders contributing to the discussions, ROPPA defended a clear position: the transformation of Africa’s food systems cannot be sustainable if family farms and locally rooted food systems are left on the margins.With its strong regional presence, ROPPA represents the voice of more than 30 million producers and their organizations in dialogue, advocacy and agricultural and food policy-making processes.In Kigali, ROPPA’s participation aimed in particular to contribute to discussions on agricultural investment, share the realities, visions and proposals of West African family farmers, and strengthen dialogue with policymakers and international partners.The network therefore brought several major concerns back to the centre of the debate: making family farming a priority for financing, promoting and protecting farmer-led food systems, supporting the agroecological transition, promoting local consumption and strengthening seed sovereignty.The effective inclusion of women and young people in agricultural policies and investments was also among the priorities defended by ROPPA.For the farmers’ network, the discussions in Kigali highlighted, above all, the persistent gaps between public policy orientations and the realities experienced in rural communities.In Kigali, ROPPA Raises the Alarm over the Resilience of Farmer-Led Food SystemsIt was in this context that ROPPA organized a press conference on September 3, 2026, on the sidelines of AFS Forum, devoted to the “resilience features of farmer-led food systems.”The meeting with the media was one of the highlights of the network’s participation in Kigali. It provided ROPPA with an opportunity to present and officially launch a series of initiatives resulting from its work on farmer-led food systems in West Africa, including the Thematic Booklet on Farmer-Led Food Systems.These publications are the outcome of action research conducted by ROPPA between 2024 and 2026 in nine countries. They translate lessons learned from the field into messages and proposals aimed at the various stakeholders capable of influencing the policies, investments and practices that shape food systems.ROPPA’s assessment is unequivocal: policies supporting food systems still do not sufficiently take into account the principles, practices and resilience capacities of farmer-led food systems.Hence the message from ROPPA representatives: “Farmer-led food systems must no longer be left on the margins.”Speaking to journalists gathered in Kigali, ROPPA representatives denounced the gap between the concentration of a significant share of financing on agribusiness and the reality of rural areas, where farmer-led food systems play a decisive role in supplying populations and safeguarding food sovereignty.For the network, the transformation of Africa’s food systems must therefore begin with the realities of local territories and family farms.The advocacy agenda presented in Kigali focuses on several key levers: territorial markets, local consumption, local processing, agroecology, endogenous resources and knowledge, and the resilience of rural communities.“The transformation of food systems must start from the realities of territories and family farms, rather than leaving them on the margins of public policies,” ROPPA representatives stressed.The network also believes that territorial markets, local consumption and local processing are economic, social and food-system levers that should receive greater support.Responsibilities for Every Category of StakeholderIn Kigali, ROPPA did more than simply present findings. It also issued specific calls to different categories of stakeholders.To policymakers and regional institutions, ROPPA calls for policies that give greater recognition to farmer-led food systems, support local consumption and territorial markets, and create an enabling environment for inclusive, sustainable and resilient food systems.To civil society organizations and farmers’ organizations, ROPPA calls for stronger knowledge-sharing, the building of alliances, contributions to the renewal of agricultural policies, and advocacy structured around issues such as local consumption, school feeding and food sovereignty.Local and regional authorities are also being called upon to take action. They are encouraged to integrate farmer-led food systems into their local plans and budgets, invest in territorial markets and processing infrastructure, support local institutional procurement and strengthen the resilience of communities.Research institutions, for their part, are urged to bring their work closer to farmers’ realities, co-produce knowledge with producer organizations and move beyond a simple technology-transfer approach in favour of stronger support for farmer-led innovation.Farmers and Their Organizations: Full-Fledged Actors in Agricultural PolicyBeyond financing, ROPPA stresses the need for genuine participation by producers in the governance of food systems.According to the network, producers and their organizations must be involved in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of agricultural and food policies.Research institutions, local authorities, civil society, governments and technical and financial partners also have specific responsibilities to assume.ROPPA further considers the processes aimed at renewing regional agricultural policies, as well as the implementation of the Kampala Declaration, to be important spaces for advancing these proposals.In Kigali, the September 3 press conference therefore enabled ROPPA to move beyond simple participation in AFS Forum and open a broader space for dialogue around its proposals.Media organizations, policymakers, technical and financial partners, farmers’ organizations, civil society, researchers and local authorities are now being called upon to take ownership of these orientations and reflect on concrete ways to implement them.Through its participation in AFS Forum 2026, ROPPA is seeking to remind stakeholders of a reality that is often at the heart of debates about the continent’s food future: farmer-led food systems are not a sector to be protected on the margins of agricultural transformation. They are one of the foundations of food sovereignty, rural employment and the resilience of African territories.Babacar SeneAgropasteur Journal