Pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers among those to benefit from Indonesia’s expanded free meal initiative

JAKARTA: The Indonesian government is set to expand its proposed free meal programme to include pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers as well as toddlers. 

To be implemented from 2025, the initiative – currently known as the Free Nutritious Meal Programme – was originally set to cover only preschoolers as well as school-going students as part of a move to address child malnutrition in the country. 

But on Tuesday (Aug 27), Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati announced during a plenary session of the Indonesian House of Representatives that the programme would be expanded, adding that this would help improve nutritional standards, enhance cognitive development, as well as combat stunting. 

Antara news agency quoted her as saying that the government has allocated 197.8 trillion rupiah (US$12.8 billion) to the health budget for next year, with a priority on stunting prevention.

According to the World Health Organization, stunting is the impaired growth and development that children experience from poor nutrition, repeated infection and inadequate psychosocial stimulation. 

Indonesia has already made significant progress on that front, reducing stunting rates from 37.2 percent to 21.5 percent over the past decade. However, Ms Sri Mulyani emphasised the need to accelerate this progress.

A flagship initiative of President-elect Prabowo Subianto, the programme initially targeted preschool children, elementary school students, junior high school students, senior high school students as well as students enrolled at religious schools. 

It was previously known as the Free Lunch programme before a rebranding to its current name in May. 

The initiative aims to not only improve nutritional intake of students but also enhance their potential academic benefits by encouraging school attendance and reducing dropout rates, among others

Local media also reported that the programme hopes to stimulate economic growth by around 0.10 per cent and create approximately 820,000 job opportunities through the empowerment of local micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). 

The ambitious programme will be implemented through public kitchens, involving the MSMEs.

For 2025, 71 trillion rupiah has been allocated for the free meal programme, covering food costs, distribution, and operational expenses of the newly established National Nutrition Agency. 

The programme is currently being piloted in Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, and East Java before its wider implementation next year.