Jakarta – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto wants to accelerate the distribution of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme so that it can immediately serve students and pregnant women in Indonesia.

This was conveyed by Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) Dadan Hindayana after a limited meeting with a number of members of the Red and White Cabinet and Prabowo at the Merdeka Palace, Friday (17/1).

Dadan conveyed a message from Prabowo at the meeting that all ministries and institutions need to focus on carrying out this equalisation.

“Mr President wants to accelerate because he is very concerned about the demands of children who have not received nutritious food, because there are many reports, many children who say to their parents, even those who are only five years old, ‘Ibu, why haven’t I been fed by Mr Prabowo while my friends have’,” said Dadan.

Meanwhile, in the period since the implementation of Free Nutritious Meals on 6 January 2025, this programme has been running in 31 provinces and has served more than 650 thousand recipients.

“Alhamdulillah, it has been running for almost 10 days and we have carried out activities in 31 provinces covering 230 service units that have served more than 650 thousand beneficiaries who until now have existed and this continues to grow every time,” he continued.

The next target, Dadan said that the government will increase the distribution of the Free Nutritious Meal Programme in January-April by 3 million and the target in April-August is to reach 6 million beneficiaries.

“So, God willing, from January to April it will increase to serve 3 million. Later in April to August it will serve 6 million,” said Dadan.

For this reason, Dadan said that closer and more intensive cooperation is needed between the ministries involved in the Free Nutritious Meal programme so that children in schools can get nutritious meals quickly.

“So, this is one thing that disturbs his (Prabowo) heart. So, we were gathered to carry out the acceleration process that needs to be done. And this is done cross-sectorally starting from planning in Bappenas, assistance from the Ministry of Defence, TNI Polri, Minister of Villages, Minister of Cooperatives, Minister of MSMEs, Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of BUMN and others so that we can immediately serve more children throughout Indonesia including pregnant women,” explained Dadan. (RR)