Celvin Moniaga Sipahutar, Jakarta – The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) said the number of beneficiaries under President Prabowo Subianto's Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) program might fall short of the year-end target.
BGN Head Dadan Hindayana said the program is projected to reach 40 million beneficiaries by the end of October 2025, which is still far from the government's target of 82.9 million recipients by year-end.
He added that BGN will continue to push distribution in the final two months of 2025. Despite potential shortfalls, Dadan said President Prabowo would still appreciate the program's progress in its first year of implementation.
"We're currently producing around 200 new kitchens (SPPGs) daily, which can serve up to 600,000 beneficiaries per day. We'll continue this push through year-end to reach 82.9 million beneficiaries. The president will appreciate our progress even if we achieve around 75 million," Dadan said at the Presidential Palace on Thursday.
As of now, BGN has established 13,514 kitchens across 38 provinces, 509 cities and regencies, and 7,022 districts, with the capacity to reach 39.5 million beneficiaries.
Budget absorption for the MBG program has reached Rp 35.6 trillion ($2.14 billion), or 50.1 percent of the total allocation. Dadan remains confident that the initial target is still within reach.
"We'll keep pushing until the end of the year. Hopefully, we can serve 82.9 million beneficiaries by then," he said.
Beyond expanding reach, Dadan said the agency is committed to improving the quality of MBG services. One of the efforts includes collaboration with India, which has served as a model for large-scale nutrition programs.
"Before implementing MBG, we visited India to study their model. I believe India's technical guidance will help us improve the quality of our nutrition program in Indonesia," Dadan added.