Government Prioritises Strengthening Free Nutritious Meal Programme in 3T Regions

Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan has affirmed that the government is targeting a number of strategic measures to be completed in the short term, particularly regarding the strengthening of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme in underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost (3T) regions, namely Papua, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), and Maluku. “We have just resolved this, having decided in today’s meeting that the data collection for the 3T regions will be completed within this week, because last week we held a meeting for a month,” Zulkifli said in a statement in Jakarta on Thursday. He conveyed this during a Limited Coordination Meeting at the ministerial level regarding the implementation of the Free Nutritious Meal programme at the Coordinating Ministry for Food’s main meeting room in Jakarta. In addition to prioritising the 3T regions, the government is also focusing interventions on priority groups, namely pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and toddlers. This step is taken so that the benefits of the MBG programme can be received by those most in need in a well-targeted manner. “Everything will be resolved properly, and fairly for all parties. So there is no need to worry,” he stated. Meanwhile, Minister of Home Affairs Muhammad Tito Karnavian expressed his support for the government’s policy of prioritising 3T regions and priority target groups in the implementation of the MBG programme. According to him, communities in these areas are the groups most in need of government attention. He added that the Directorate General of Population and Civil Registration at the Ministry of Home Affairs is ready to support the beneficiary data collection process to ensure the programme runs more accurately and is well-targeted. The coordination meeting was also attended by Head of the National Nutrition Agency Sudaryono, Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Abdul Mu’ti, Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform Rini Widyantini, as well as officials from related ministries and agencies.