Coordinating Minister Zulhas Flags Over Rp 1 Trillion Monthly Waste in Free Nutritious Meal Programme

Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan has stated that the number of Nutritional Fulfilment Service Unit (SPPG) points for the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme has ballooned by 6,877 points from the original plan of around 21,000. He consequently assessed the need to reorganise the MBG programme within one month. “The initial plan was for 21,000 SPPG points, but now there are 27,877 points. A surge of 6,877 SPPG points,” said Zulkifli Hasan, as quoted from Antara, Thursday, 11 June 2026. The 21,000 SPPG points were originally planned to be built in agglomeration areas. Therefore, according to Zulkifli, the swelling number of points suggests the practice of buying and selling SPPG points. With each SPPG kitchen receiving an incentive worth Rp 6 million per day, the man familiarly known as Zulhas calculated the budgetary waste for kitchen incentives is estimated at more than Rp 1 trillion per month. “If there is waste of Rp 1 trillion per month, that means Rp 12 trillion a year,” Zulhas said. Consequently, the Coordinating Minister for Food emphasised that the government will reorganise the MBG programme within one month. “A thorough reorganisation is needed by the Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) and the new management to fix this very important programme,” he said. Head of BGN Nanik S Deyang stated she will take several budgetary efficiency steps so that programme implementation does not burden state finances without altering the nutritional fulfilment targets for beneficiaries. The first step taken is a moratorium on opening new points and kitchens. To date, there are 27,877 operational kitchen points based on virtual accounts, which will be reorganised to assess the suitability of service capacity with the number of beneficiaries in each region. BGN, said Nanik, is also temporarily halting new kitchen registrations while mapping needs in various areas. The reorganisation is being carried out because the distribution of kitchens is still concentrated on the island of Java. The next step is to review the target beneficiaries so that nutritional interventions are more directed at groups that truly need them. An evaluation is being conducted on the number of beneficiaries, currently recorded at around 63 million people. Furthermore, BGN will also strengthen supervision of service quality. In 2026, the programme’s focus is directed at enhancing implementation quality, rather than merely pursuing quantity. Evaluations will be conducted to ensure that operating kitchens have met technical guidelines and have appropriate service capacity. Nanik said the Free Nutritious Meal programme is a mandate that must be carried out properly. Because, besides aiming to improve the nutritional quality of Indonesian children, the programme is also expected to stimulate the economy at the grassroots level.