Agriculture Minister Amran: Do Not Interfere with MBG

JAKARTA - Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman has requested that the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme not be disrupted. Amran stated that MBG is a government programme that absorbs produce from 160 million farmers across the country. “So, do not interfere with MBG; this is the engine driving the economy in villages,” Amran said after the Food Self-Sufficiency Dialogue event at the Ramokalisari Warehouse rented by Bulog in Surabaya, East Java, on Wednesday (13/5/2026). In cases such as the plummeting farm-level egg prices due to oversupply, for instance, the government is using MBG as an instrument for price stabilisation. His side has asked the Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), Dadan Hindayana, to increase the use of eggs in the MBG menu from once to twice a week. “Insha’Allah, perhaps in one week or in 5 days, 2 days, 3 days, it will immediately rise because 60 million people are consuming it,” Amran said. According to Amran, if there are errors in the implementation of the MBG programme, they can be corrected. Even if corruption occurs, the perpetrators can be arrested by law enforcement authorities. “That is the President’s commitment,” Amran said. This is because the programme targets children still in the womb as a long-term investment. “Nutritious children. This is a long-term investment. In terms of politics, it is not advantageous,” Amran said. According to Amran, food price issues in Indonesia often exhibit anomalies. For example, when rice stocks are abundant, rice prices in certain regions actually rise. As the world’s largest palm oil producer, Indonesia has also experienced cooking oil shortages. “We export 32 million tonnes. Yet prices rise in our own country. Doesn’t that make sense?” Amran said.