BRIN Research: Free Nutritious Meal Kitchens Concentrated in Java, Scarce in Impoverished Regions

A researcher from the National Research and Innovation Agency’s (BRIN) Population Research Centre, Yanu Endar Prasetyo, has presented spatial research findings showing that the distribution of Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) kitchens remains concentrated on Java Island and in western Indonesia. Based on data analysis of 27,477 Nutrition Programme Service Unit (SPPG) kitchens across Indonesia, BRIN discovered a pattern where the spread of these food provision facilities follows population density, much like the opening of typical commercial business locations.

“The fewer kitchens there are in areas with high poverty, high stunting, and high food vulnerability; in fact, the kitchens there are very few. Whereas based on need, there should actually be more there,” Yanu stated in Jakarta on Wednesday (24/6/2026).

Yanu explained that the findings were obtained after BRIN combined kitchen location data with poverty ratio maps from 500 districts/cities, stunting prevalence rates, the number of schools, as well as food security and vulnerability maps from the National Food Agency (Bapanas). Responding to the mismatch between supply and need, he offered a constructive solution for the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) to reform the funding scheme so that the programme’s benefits can be distributed appropriately.

He suggested that the government fully utilise the State Budget (APBN) to finance kitchens in affirmative regions such as Eastern Indonesia, Papua, and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). According to Yanu, these vulnerable areas cannot be entirely handed over to private Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding schemes, whose amounts and sustainability tend to fluctuate and are burdened by high infrastructure investment costs.

“For regions that truly need state intervention, the APBN should be used there. For regions that do not require too much APBN funding, CSR or non-APBN funds can be used. I think that is what needs to be reformed by our colleagues at BGN,” he said.

In addition to reforming funding governance, BRIN also recommends creating a special kitchen model for Disadvantaged, Frontier, and Outermost (3T) regions, considering that the conventional kitchen model used in Java cannot be uniformly applied to target remote inland areas. Yanu assessed that innovative interventions, such as introducing mobile kitchens adapted to the geographical conditions of archipelagic regions, would be far more effective in sustainably distributing nutritional benefits to the nation’s children.