President Calls for Tighter Compliance in Free Nutritious Meals Program

Bogor: President Prabowo Subianto has urged all relevant stakeholders to strengthen adherence to standard operating procedures in the implementation of the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program.

The call was delivered during a cabinet retreat in Hambalang, Bogor, West Java, on Tuesday, according to State Secretary Minister Prasetyo Hadi.

Hadi said that based on data from the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), around 15 incidents were recorded during the program’s implementation in December 2025.

“The President wants to ensure that such incidents can be prevented to the maximum extent going forward,” Hadi said, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, 7 January 2026.

He emphasized that the MBG program faces no budgetary constraints, noting that Rp335 trillion (approximately USD19.9 billion) has been allocated in the 2026 State Budget to support the initiative.

“From both technical and financial perspectives, there are no issues,” Hadi stressed, adding that the program has generally run smoothly without major obstacles.

President Prabowo has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to applying a “zero defect” standard and ensuring equitable distribution of benefits under the MBG program starting in 2026.

During the briefing, the president described the program as a strategic intervention to address urgent nutritional challenges nationwide. While citing a 99.99 percent success rate, he acknowledged that shortcomings and irregularities still occurred at the implementation level.

To address these issues, Prabowo said supervision and security measures would continue to be tightened to ensure flawless distribution.

The Free Nutritious Meals program was launched on January 6, 2025, as one of President Prabowo’s flagship initiatives, targeting improved nutrition for children under five, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and students from elementary to senior high school.

With a target of 82.9 million beneficiaries nationwide, the program ranks among the largest social initiatives ever implemented in Indonesia.

After one year of implementation, the number of beneficiaries has reached 55 million, according to government data.