National Nutrition Agency No Longer Pursuing 82 Million Target for Free Nutritious Meal Programme
The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) has altered the implementation direction of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme. Under its new leadership, the BGN stated that it will no longer focus on pursuing the target of 82 million beneficiaries this year, instead prioritising service quality and the programme’s precision in reaching the intended recipients.
The Head of the BGN, Nanik Sudary Emaryati Deyang, stated that her agency will no longer make the achievement of the 82 million beneficiary target the primary priority in executing President Prabowo’s flagship programme. Nanik noted that the new BGN leadership team has directly informed the President of their intention to shift focus from quantity to programme quality. “Yesterday, the three of us were called by the President, and we conveyed to him that for 2025, we request not to chase quantity. We will improve quality,” Nanik said during a press conference at the BGN office in Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta, on Thursday, 4 June 2026.
She explained that this change in focus is being implemented alongside efforts to improve governance and budget efficiency within the BGN. Consequently, the expansion of the number of beneficiaries will no longer be the primary measure of the programme’s success. “It may be that we do not pursue the 82 million figure, but rather ensure that these kitchens are healthy and provide nutritious meals,” she added.
Nanik explained that the BGN will also restructure the list of beneficiaries to ensure the budget is more precisely targeted. One option currently under review is reducing the programme’s coverage in schools identified as belonging to higher-income economic groups, reallocating those resources to regions in greater need. “If there are expensive schools, we ask whether the MBG is still necessary. We will redirect this to the 3T areas (underdeveloped, outermost, and frontier regions),” she said.
According to Nanik, this approach allows the number of beneficiaries to continue growing without requiring an even expansion across all regions. Instead, the programme will focus on groups facing higher nutritional risks. These high-need groups include communities in the 3T regions and the so-called ‘3B’ groups: pregnant women (bumil), breastfeeding mothers (busui), and toddlers (balita).
Nanik stated that this decision was made after the BGN consulted with child health experts and nutritionists regarding the groups most in need of nutritional intervention. “Nutritional intervention is most effective from the first month of pregnancy until the age of nine, or until primary school. That is where we will focus,” she said.
As a result, the BGN now mandates that every Nutritional Fulfilment Service Unit (SPPG) must serve the 3B groups. According to her, this policy has shown positive results in recent weeks. “The SPPG must include the 3B groups—pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and toddlers. If not, we will suspend them. Alhamdulillah, the results are good,” Nanik concluded.
Nanik emphasised that the ultimate goal of the programme remains unchanged: to improve the nutritional quality of the population. However, she maintained that achieving this goal does not necessarily require chasing beneficiary numbers alone. “The important thing is that the budget is focused and the intervention is precisely targeted,” said Nanik.