Coordinating Minister For Food: Free Nutrition Food Budget Of IDR 71 Trillion Is Only Enough Until June

Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs (Menko Pangan) Zulkifli Hasan revealed that the budget for the Free Nutrition Food (MBG) program of IDR 71 trillion was only sufficient until June 2025.

The budget does not cover all children in Indonesia.

For information, the Free Nutrition Food (MBG) program, which is President Prabowo Subianto's campaign promise, officially started on Monday, January 6.

However, its implementation is gradually carried out in 26 provinces first.

The initial MBG program target is targeting 3 million people. Meanwhile, the target recipients of MBG are toddlers, sati, PAUD, TK, SD, SMP, and SMA, as well as pregnant and lactating women.

"Now (the MBG budget) is IDR 71 trillion, until June (2025)," he said in a limited coordination meeting in the food sector in East Java, reported by YouTube Kominfo MMC, Tuesday, January 7.

The man who is familiarly called Zulhas revealed that the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) also plans to request an additional budget of IDR 140 trillion in June.

"But Prof. Dadan (Head of the National Nutrition Agency) is trying to increase it by Rp140 trillion in July, then all children will get food, so (the total) is Rp210 trillion," said Zulhas.

Zulhas also projects that the budget for MBG itself can reach IDR 420 trillion for the January to December period. The budget is to meet the raw materials of the program.

Furthermore, Zulhas said that the projected high budget was because food needs had also increased along with the implementation of the program.

"But if it's full from January to December, it's more than more than IDR 420 trillion," he said.

If Indonesia does not immediately increase food production, continued Zulhas, then raw material spending will be higher.

According to him, by achieving the target of self-sufficiency in food, budget spending can be reduced, especially for imports.

"Now we don't work hard, eggs, rice, all kinds of rice, fish, how much do we want, how many imports do we know? Our shame is that we are far behind Thailand, Vietnam. After the 28-year reform of Pak Suharto's era, our agriculture was built, but it's not a priority," he said.