Nutrition Agency Asked Not To Force Cow Milk To Enter The Free Nutrition Food Menu

Deputy Minister of Agriculture (Wamentan) Sudaryono. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Deputy Minister of Agriculture (Wamentan) Sudaryono said the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) had asked the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) not to force the cow's milk menu in the Free Nutrition Eating program.

Sudaryono said that cow's milk production in Indonesia is not sufficient if it must be used for free nutritious food needs. Therefore, he suggested that the milk menu can be replaced with other protein sources.

"The problem is that the production is not enough, we suggest and ask the Nutrition Agency not to force them to drink milk too much," said Sudaryono in Jakarta, Tuesday.

Eating free nutrition, continued Sudaryono, does not have to drink milk. According to Sudaryono, protein originating from animals such as eggs, chickens, or plant-based protein is able to meet the daily needs of children and pregnant women.

However, Sudaryono said, if the cow's milk production in Indonesia is sufficient, slowly this menu can be put into a free nutritious meal.

Sudaryono said that this free nutritious meal must be adjusted to the national production capacity. This is because he does not want this program to even burden the state by forcing cow's milk to be imported.

"Later slowly, along with our milk productivity, we will increase it. Of course we want to give milk, in some areas, milk centers such as Banyumas, Boyolali, which are close to milk centers, there are several schools that eat nutritiously, there will be milk," he said.

The Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) previously emphasized that there were no plans to import 1.8 million tons of milk from Vietnam to support the Free Nutrition Food Program launched by President Prabowo Subianto.

Head of the Public Relations and Public Information Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture Moch. Arief Cahyono said that the Ministry of Agriculture has no plans to import it, but rather invites investors from Vietnam to build a dairy cow industry in the country.

"It should be emphasized that Indonesia does not plan to import 1.8 million tons of milk from Vietnam. The policy initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture is to invite Vietnamese investors to build a dairy industry in Indonesia with the aim of increasing national milk production, not importing dairy products," said Arief.

Arief stated that his party wanted to clarify the information circulating, so that it was not wrong to arrest Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman's statement regarding the Vietnamese company's investment in milk production of 1.8 million tons.

Arief said that the Minister of Agriculture emphasized that cooperation between Indonesia and Vietnam was focused on increasing domestic production capacity to achieve food independence, according to the President's direction.