The Republic of Chile
FAO Region: Latin America and The Caribbean
Chile Investment cases:
Coming soon in April 2026
Chile Dashboard:
Coming soon in April 2026
The main objective of FAO's technical support is to develop a conceptual and methodological framework that allows prioritizing public investment in rural territories, especially in zonas de rezago, including investment in public goods that enable private investment in different value chains.
As part of the process, an inter-institutional working group that integrates ODEPA, FAO, INDAP, CNR, other services of MINAGRI and the Undersecretariat of Regional and Administrative Development (SUBDERE) of the Ministry of the Interior has been established.
Chile's Hand-in-Hand Initiative
Chile boasts over a century of public policies on food and nutrition. Initially focused on addressing malnutrition and infant mortality, these policies have shifted in the last decade to address obesity and non-communicable diseases.Between 1960 and 2000, Chile managed to eradicate child malnutrition, reducing its prevalence from 37.0 percent to 2.9 percent in children under six years of age, including mild malnutrition. These results contrast sharply with the magnitude of the child malnutrition problem in some Latin American and Caribbean countries, where this scourge continues to be a major public health challenge.
Currently, 1 in 2 school-aged children and adolescents suffer from overnutrition (JUNAEB 2020), while 74.2% of those over 15 years of age have the same condition (MINSAL 2016-2017), the highest figure in the OECD (OECD, 2019).
In contrast, between 2018 and 2020, 17.9% of the population suffered from moderate and severe food insecurity (SOFI, 2021), a figure that increased at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic to 19.4% (MDSyF, UNDP, INE. 2020), due to the reduction of income, a situation declared by 59.4% of the households consulted in the Second Social Survey Covid-19 carried out by the Ministry of Social Development and Family, the UNDP and the INE.
At the same time, 74 kilograms of food are wasted per person per year in the country, a figure that is above the Latin American average (UNEP, 2021). Furthermore, regarding food hazards, 100% of chemical contamination is due to the presence of pesticides in fruits and vegetables for domestic consumption (ACHIPIA, 2020).
Chile NEWS
To strengthen countries’ capacities to manage a complex programme, participants make commitments and actions through shared information monitoring and evaluation dashboarding platform. The M&E dashboard facilitates coordination, promotes mutual accountability, and enables timely troubleshooting as circumstances change or new information becomes available.
Investment Opportunities in ChileThe commune of La Higuera was selected as a pilot territory for the implementation of the FAO's Hand in Hand Initiative in Chile, within the framework of the project "FAO Technical Assistance for the Institutional Strengthening of SUBDERE and the Local Government of La Higuera" , an initiative aimed at reducing territorial gaps and inequalities in lagging areas |  |
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President Gabriel Boric participates in FAO Investment ForumRome. Within the framework of the World Food Forum 2025, held at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, the President of the Republic of Chile, Gabriel Boric Font, participated alongside the FAO Director-General, Dr. QU Dongyu, in the opening of the Hand-in-Hand Initiative Investment Forum |  |
Chile Country contact:
FAO Representative of Country: FAOR
FAO Hand-in-Hand Country Focal Point: FAOHIH Country Focal Point
FAO HIH Jordan
Chile has experienced enormous economic and social progress over the last 30 years, reflected in a significant reduction in poverty and a sustained increase in GDP per capita. At the beginning of the 2000s, GDP per capita reached just over US$4,446, and the increase was sustained until 2020 when it fell due to the pandemic.
The Chilean economy is primarily based on the export of raw materials, with mining, manufactured goods (such as food processing), and agriculture being the most important sectors. These productive activities are mainly carried out in rural areas.
Eighty-three percent of Chile's land area comprises rural and mixed municipalities (263 out of 346), and 25.5% of the population lives in rural areas, according to OECD rurality criteria (ODEPA, 2021). This means that nearly 4.5 million Chileans live in these territories.
Geospatial Platform
With access to more than 2 million data and information layers, the platform serves as the evidence base for identifying territories where agricultural transformation have the greatest potential for alleviating poverty and hunger.
Data Lab
The Data Lab leverages non-conventional data sources and uses data science and artificial intelligence to fill data gaps.
Core Concepts
What is Hand-in-Hand? An evidence-based, country-owned and led initiative to accelerate agricultural transformation, with the goal of eradicating poverty, ending hunger and malnutrition, and reducing inequalities.
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Coming soon on April 2026
Agriculture in Chile
Regarding production, agriculture in Chile has a dual nature. On the one hand, large-scale agricultural production is primarily export-oriented, positioning Chile as a key food exporter in the Southern Hemisphere. In 2019, 17.4% of total Chilean exports consisted of agricultural products, and specifically, the agricultural subsector accounted for 90.3% of these exports (BCCH, 2019).
Furthermore, family farming represents 93% of national producers (Agricultural Census, 2007). Almost 70% of family farming is concentrated between the Libertador O'Higgins and Los Lagos regions (INDAP, 2019), and this segment contributes 22% of the Gross Value of Production generated by Chilean agriculture (INDAP, 2017), playing a key role in healthy eating, which directly contributes to the country's food and nutritional security.However, despite the important role of family farming, this sector is highly vulnerable. 63% of its members belong to the poorest 40% of the population, according to the Socioeconomic Classification of the Social Registry of Households (INDAP, 2015). Understanding and addressing the challenges faced by this segment would have a significant impact on mitigating rural poverty and reducing the urban-rural gap.