Wamenko Pangan Hanif Faisol: Optimalisasi MBG Dorong Tingkatkan Permintaan Susu Domestik

JAKARTA - Deputy Coordinating Minister for Food and Agriculture Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said the government continues to encourage the optimization of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) Program to increase domestic milk demand in line with efforts to meet the consumption of milk by the community which is still relatively low.

Hanif said that increasing milk consumption is an important part of supporting the improvement of people's nutrition while strengthening the demand for domestic dairy products.

"Yes, of course it is encouraged (domestic dairy products through MBG). We strongly encourage an increase in demand for milk because the consumption of milk by the Indonesian people is still very low," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, July 24.

He said that the current consumption of milk by the Indonesian people only reached around 16.7 kilograms per capita per year or much lower than a number of milk-producing countries.

According to him, this consumption rate shows the large opportunity for increasing national milk demand through various government programs, including MBG.

"If divided by 365 days, the amount is only about 1 or 2 tablespoons per day. This means that the consumption of milk by our community still needs to be improved," he said.

On this occasion, Hanif also said that the increase in milk consumption must be balanced with the strengthening of domestic production so that national needs do not continue to depend on imported supplies.

He said the current government continues to encourage various efforts to increase milk production, including through the development of livestock technology that allows dairy cows to be cultivated in a wider area.

Moreover, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded Indonesia's fresh milk production in 2025 reached 820,874.80 tons, with East Java contributing 475,394.90 tons, West Java 251,871.10 tons, and Central Java 75,336.85 tons so that it needs to continue to be improved.

"If the technology is successful and we are able to engineer the microclimate in the barn, then dairy cattle farms do not always have to be in mountainous areas, but can be developed in lower areas," he said.

Hanif said that the increase in demand for milk through MBG needs to be followed by an increase in domestic production capacity so that the economic benefits can be felt by farmers and the national dairy industry, while reducing dependence on milk imports.