President Prabowo asks for patience as free nutritious meal programme expands

President Prabowo Subianto has asked members of the public who have not yet benefited from the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme to be patient, as the government continues to expand its implementation across all regions of Indonesia.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Meninting Dam in West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, on Friday, President Prabowo said the government understands that a number of areas have not yet received the programme’s benefits, given the vastness of Indonesia.

"There are some who haven’t been reached yet, I ask for patience because this is our struggle. It may only reach everyone by the end of the year or early next year. Our country is very large, very large, there are bound to be villages that haven’t received it yet. I understand that," said President Prabowo.

The President stressed that MBG is a strategic programme aimed at improving the nutritional quality of children as the nation’s future generation.

"This MBG is very strategic because it is food for our children, the future generation. Their brain cells must develop well, their bone cells must develop well," he said.

President Prabowo said children who do not receive good nutrition from an early age risk not developing optimally, which could affect the quality of the nation’s human resources in the future.

In addition to targeting schoolchildren, President Prabowo said the MBG programme is also provided to pregnant women as an effort to improve maternal and child health from the pregnancy stage.

ANTARA’s data tracking indicates that by mid-2026, the Free Nutritious Meal Programme had reached approximately 62 million beneficiaries, or about 74.8 percent of the national target of 82.9 million recipients.