Indonesia's nutrition agency halts new kitchens for free meal program

Indonesia's National Nutrition Agency (BGN) has announced a moratorium on building new kitchens for its free nutritious meal program (MBG). This decision, supported by the House of Representatives' Commission IX, aims to strengthen the program's quality and ensure the nation's fiscal health.

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We welcome the various improvement steps announced by the Head of BGN, especially the policy of moratorium on the construction of new SPPG kitchens, refocusing beneficiaries, and shifting the focus from quantity to quality of MBG.

Charles Honoris, Deputy Chairman of Commission IX, praised the BGN's move, highlighting the focus on improving program quality, refining beneficiary targeting, and shifting from quantity to quality. He stressed that the MBG program should serve as a precise nutritional intervention tool, especially for vulnerable populations such as toddlers, children from low-income families, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, and those in high-risk nutritional areas.

"In the current condition of state finances facing pressure, the step to hold expansion and prioritize improvements is a wise and responsible choice," Honoris stated. He emphasized that the program's success should be measured by its ability to improve public nutritional status and enhance the quality of human resources, not just by the number of beneficiaries.

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Especially in the condition of state finances facing pressure, the step to hold expansion and prioritize improvements is a wise and responsible choice.

The BGN head, Nanik S Deyang, reiterated the focus on budget efficiency without compromising the program's nutritional targets. While the MBG program has broader economic impacts, stimulating the food supply chain and local businesses, the BGN will now concentrate on optimizing its governance. This includes ensuring more equitable distribution of existing kitchens, prioritizing the program in underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost (3T) regions, and strengthening the focus on pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and toddlers.

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As I conveyed some time ago, we are concerned with budget efficiency. So that it doesn't burden the state budget at this time, but without changing the target of what we provide, nutrition.