Nanik Deyang: School Canteens to Serve as Alternative Kitchens for Free Nutritious Meal Programme

The Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), Nanik S. Deyang, stated that school canteens could serve as an alternative kitchen solution for the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme. This move is part of an effort to ensure the efficient implementation of the programme.

Nanik noted that utilising school canteens is particularly viable in areas with a relatively small number of beneficiaries, where constructing new kitchens would be unnecessary. She suggested that this approach could be applied in remote areas, as well as in the outermost, frontier, and least developed (3T) regions.

She cited an example of a school in West Lombok with only 119 students, where building a new kitchen would be deemed ineffective. “For instance, in West Lombok, I visited an island with only 119 students. It is not feasible to establish a new kitchen there, but since there is a canteen, that canteen can be utilised,” Nanik said at the State Palace, Jakarta, on Monday (8/6/2026).

In addition to school canteens, the BGN is also considering the use of existing facilities, such as community kitchens established through corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes. “For example, in a region like Raja Ampat, I visited an island with only 115 students, but there is a community kitchen provided through Pertamina’s CSR. We can utilise such facilities. These are alternatives so that we do not necessarily have to build new kitchens in 3T areas,” she added.

Nanik emphasised that these alternatives are part of an efficiency drive to ensure the programme’s implementation does not rely entirely on the State Budget (APBN).

During the same occasion, Nanik also addressed reports regarding several Nutrition Fulfilment Service Units (SPPG) that were allegedly suspending services due to delayed fund disbursements. She clarified that some circulating information did not reflect the actual situation, explaining that disbursements had been carried out gradually since last Friday and continued into Monday. According to reports received by the BGN, several SPPGs had already received their funds on that day.

“Disbursements began on Friday and continued this Monday. If I am not mistaken, we received a report that Rp 5 trillion was disbursed today. Therefore, there is no issue; it is merely a technical matter,” she concluded.