Indonesia's free meal programme reaches 62.45 million people

Schoolchildren accounted for the largest share, with 48.35 million recipients, or 76.1 percent of Indonesia’s 63.57 million students, Bakom said in a statement.

Another 644,664 Islamic boarding school students, equal to 44.2 percent of the national target, have received daily MBG food packages.

The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) said 6.3 million infants, or 37.7 percent of the national infant population, had received MBG packages as of May 22, 2026.

The agency added that 2.07 million breastfeeding mothers, or 75.2 percent of the target, and 868,259 pregnant mothers, or 35.3 percent of the target, were covered by the program.

Including 4.22 million teachers and education workers, the total number of beneficiaries reached 62.45 million people, according to the statement.

The number of MBG kitchens, officially known as Nutrition Fulfillment Service Units (SPPG), has reached 29,225 nationwide.

The program has covered 374,175 schools and distributed more than 8.3 billion meal portions since its launch on Jan. 6, 2025.

MBG has created jobs for 1.29 million workers involved in food preparation and distribution to schools.

The program has partnered with 142,387 suppliers, including 59,921 micro, small and medium enterprises, 13,306 cooperatives, 690 Red-and-White Cooperatives, 1,410 village-owned enterprises, and 157 joint village-owned enterprises.

Bakom said the involvement of local businesses had boosted regional economies and strengthened national food self-sufficiency.

The MBG program is one of President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship policies to improve human resource quality through better child nutrition.

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Translator: Mecca Yumna, Nabil Ihsan