Government Accelerates Overhaul of 13,000 Free Nutritious Meal Service Points
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The government, through the orchestration of the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs, has committed to accelerating the restructuring and resolution of the sustainability of more than 13,000 Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme service units across Indonesia.
Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan, speaking at a press conference following a limited meeting on Improving MBG Governance in Jakarta on Wednesday, said the overhaul of the tens of thousands of service points would be divided into two priority phases.
“Priority regions with high stunting rates, such as Highland Papua and East Nusa Tenggara, are targeted for completion within one month,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said most of the other nutrition fulfilment service units (SPPG) scattered across Java and Sumatra would require an evaluation period of up to two months to ensure their operational readiness.
The cross-ministerial and agency meeting also agreed on a target to complete updating the data of 63 million beneficiaries, as well as the repositioning of MBG recipient targets, within a one-month deadline.
“The President’s instruction is that everyone receives it, except those who do not want it, for example well-off senior high schools whose breakfast provisions are already good — that is fine. But that does not mean the government is not providing; no. It is simply that these are children of ours who already feel they have enough and have the means,” he stressed.
He added that to strengthen implementation on the ground, Sudaryono, the new Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), would also revise a number of operational regulations and maximise coordination across 17 ministries and agencies.
Consequently, he said, the government is optimistic that the various challenges surrounding MBG governance that have drawn public attention can be resolved through improved public communication, data synchronisation, and the refinement of implementation as set out in Presidential Regulation No. 115/2025 on MBG Implementation Governance and Presidential Decree No. 28/2025 on the MBG Programme Implementation Coordination Team.