Economists Urge Free Nutrition Eating Program Raw Materials Not From Imports

JAKARTA - Bright Institute economist Awalil Rizky believes that the free nutritious food program (MBG) which will be worked on by President Prabowo Subianto's government has great economic potential.

"This program can actually be very good if it is really well planned, well tested," Awalil said in a webinar in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, October 30.

According to him, the MBG program will affect the circulation of money nationally. If the Rp71 trillion budget of this program is able to trigger a long circulation of money, it can actually contribute to growth.

For example, if the money is used to buy local materials, such as rice and milk, from the local area, the impact will be more pronounced.

For this reason, he appealed to Prabowo not to import raw materials for the MBG program. If the raw materials are imported, the contribution to growth will decrease.

This statement is in line with the Head of the National Nutrition Agency Dadan Hindayana. Dadan said the MBG budget would be used to buy food menu raw materials from agricultural products, which would trigger large circulation of money in the community.

Meanwhile, various relevant ministries stated that they were ready to support the MBG program.

The Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) has prepared a special program to support MBG's success, namely through a nutritious food yard program and an increase in milk and meat production programs.

The Minister of Agriculture explained that free nutritious food can be supported starting from the household level through a nutritious food yard program. This means that each house can supply nutritional needs, such as carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, and others from self-produced plants.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) through the Quality Control and Supervision Agency of Marine and Fisheries Products maintains the quality of fish for the MBG program.