Indonesia’s free meal initiative to begin pilot next month; aims to benefit 82.9 million people by 2027

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s free meal initiative, which is set to begin its pilot next month, stands to benefit some 82.9 million people in its first two years of operations.

The programme will then be rolled out nationwide at the start of next year, according to the head of the Indonesian National Nutrition Agency Dadan Hindayana. 

“Our target for 2027 is 82.9 million people. In December 2024, we will start the pilot project from Sabang (in Aceh) to Merauke (in Papua New Guinea) but in January 2025, we will implement the programme massively,” Mr Dadan told local media on Monday (Nov 25), adding that the programme is also set to create some 1.5 million jobs in the country. 

The Free Meal Programme will officially begin on Jan 2 and will start with 923 food kitchens in the first three months of operations. This will then be expanded to 2,000 in April 2025 and then 5,000 kitchens between July and August. 

The Indonesian National Nutrition Agency has established service unit bases in various regions in the country, with each kitchen expected to serve around 3,000 people. 

“For the first three months starting from January, we will start with three million children, (in the next three months), we double the target,” Mr Dadan was quoted as saying by Kompas. 

A flagship electoral campaign promise by President Prabowo Subianto, the programme was originally set to cover only preschoolers and school-going students as part of a move to address child malnutrition in the country, with a priority on stunting prevention. 

But Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati announced in August that the programme would be expanded to include pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers as well as toddlers. 

An estimated 6.3 million children under the age of five in Indonesia have stunted growth, according to the health ministry. 

Stunting not only inhibits physical and mental development but can also increase the risk of conditions like cancer and cardiovascular disease. To prevent stunting, a child needs to be fed nutritious meals for at least 1,000 days from the foetal stage until the age of about two.

Thus, Mr Prabowo has promised to provide one free meal per person daily to around five million pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers as well as 65 million toddlers and school children up to grade nine, or between five and 15 years of age.