Federative Republic of Brazil Country Programme Evaluation Brazil and IFAD have developed a solid and strategic partnership over more than 35 years.

IFAD is supporting the Government in promoting family farming and grass-roots development in the north-east of the country, as a means to improve productivity, food security, nutrition and incomes.

IFAD has six ongoing projects in the country, which are all in the early stages of implementation. Attention therefore is needed to consolidating activities to ensure desired outcomes. While recognizing the importance of non-agricultural activities for wider sustainable and inclusive rural transformation, the evaluation finds that a better balance between agricultural and non-agricultural activities could be achieved in the future. This would require placing more emphasis on the agriculture component of investment programmes, such as in areas of water and land management, crop production and livestock development.

Performance in non-lending-activities (policy dialogue, knowledge management and partnerships building) has improved since the last country programme evaluation in 2007. However, the evaluation recommends further strengthening engagement in these activities including greater attention to South-South and Triangular Cooperation. Finally, to ensure enhanced performance in non-lending activities, and considering more generally that Brazil is IFAD's largest country programme in the Latin America and the Caribbean, the evaluation recommends the out-posting of the Country Programme Manager to Brazil.