• Araucanía went from 14.8% in 2020 to 18.7% in 2022, and Los Lagos from 15.1% to 14.1% of households in a situation of moderate and severe food insecurity.
• Households in rural communities show the greatest increases in severe food insecurity, rising from 2.7% in 2020 to 5.3% in 2022, a percentage double that of urban communities.
• Food insecurity was higher in female-headed households, reaching 19.1% versus 12% in male-headed households.
• The 2nd Food Security and Food Survey, conducted by Rimisp – Latin American Center for Rural Development, was applied during the months of December 2022 and January 2023 in the regions of La Araucanía and Los Lagos. The 1st version of the survey was applied in 2020.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the shortage of agricultural inputs and the subsequent increase in the price of these products, as well as the economic crisis and the war in Russia and Ukraine, food prices have recently soared. Many people have lost their jobs or experienced a reduction in their incomes, which has increased the economic vulnerability of the poorest populations and limited their ability to access adequate and nutritious food.

Within the framework of the Siembra Desarrollo project, executed by Rimisp – Latin American Center for Rural Development with the support of the International Development Research Center (IDRC) of Canada, the Food Security and Food Survey (ESAA) was generated with the objective of investigating the impacts on the food security of the population in the regions of La Araucanía and Los Lagos. The first survey was carried out in 2020 and the second version at the end of 2022.

In 2020, the survey showed that the aggregate figure of moderate and severe food insecurity (IA) (see Table N°1) for households in La Araucanía reached 14.8%, while for the Los Lagos region it was 15.1%. In 2022, the situation worsened in the Araucanía region, with 18.7% of households with moderate or severe food insecurity. In the Los Lagos region, there was a decrease in the aggregate figure, dropping to 14.1% of households that suffered moderate or severe food insecurity.

When disaggregating the data and focusing on the most extreme (severe insecurity), i.e., people who did not have access to food for a whole day, La Araucanía shows an increase from 1.6% in 2020 to 3.6% in 2022, and Los Lagos from 1.7% to 2.6% of households in the most severe situation of food insecurity.