Brazil’s and IFAD’s strong partnership is based on a shared commitment to reducing poverty and pursuing innovative ways to assist rural communities. Although Brazil’s fight against poverty has been successful in the last decade, residual poverty remains in rural areas. In 2014, more than half of Brazilians living in poverty lived in rural areas. In Brazil, small-scale agriculture, or “family farming”, accounts for 70 per cent of production of some of the country’s staple foods and employs three quarters of farm labourers. Family farmers are a focus of the government’s poverty reduction strategy and IFAD’s operations in the country. Working closely with the Brazilian government at federal and state levels, partners from development banks, the private sector, NGOs and local organizations, IFAD supports efforts to sustainably reduce rural poverty.

The Fund’s operations are concentrated in the Northeast, the region with the largest concentration of rural people and where the IFAD Country Office is located. Target groups include poor farmers, agrarian reform settlers and rural workers, and, within those groups, women and young people in particular.

IFAD has been the partner of choice for Brazil in many areas, including:

• Implementing the Drought Emergency Plan in the Northeast during 2016-2017
• Helping over 20,000 quilombola families consolidate land development and market access
• Establishing and developing women-run family farming cooperatives in semi-arid areas, for the production, sale and export of native fruit products and processed products

IFAD has promoted cooperation with Slow Food on product labelling and packaging, and it helps family farming cooperatives obtain international certifications through state-run projects.

By June 2017, Brazil had benefited from 12 IFAD-supported projects for a total value of US$859.5 million, including US$313 million in IFAD financing. IFAD and Brazil also cooperate through grant-financed activities, including policy dialogue, knowledge management and South-South Cooperation.

View projects and services in Brazil.