Will Indonesia Build 13,000 New Free Nutritious Meal Kitchens?

3 hours ago 1

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs, Zulkifli Hasan signaled the continued development of 13,000 new kitchens for President Prabowo Subianto's free nutritious meal (MBG) program. According to him, the kitchens are in various state of constructions spread across various regions in Indonesia.

These nutrition fulfillment service units (SPPG) are not yet operational, with some having already been completed construction and others still in 80 percent progress in development.

According to Zulkifli, these kitchens will be focused in high stunting rate areas and will be implemented in phases.

During the firsth phase, the government is prioritizing to complete the construction of free nutritious meal kithen in underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost regions (3T regions), with high stunting rates. "For example, we will finish the construction in Papua Highlands and East Nusa Tenggara within a month," said Zulkifli after leading a limited ministerial coordination meeting at the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs office in Central Jakarta on Wednesday, July 29, 2026.

Meanwhile, for the second phase, most of the total 13,000 kitchen points spread across other regions such as Java and Sumatra will require a review period of up to two months.

"For those who work in this sector, please be understanding after reading the announcement, there's no need to stage a demonstration," he said.

On the same occasion, Sudaryono, the head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN), confirmed that they have obtained the data on Indonesian regions with high stunting rates from the Ministry of Health. Sudaryono explained that they will focus on the operations of free meal kitchens already built in those areas.

"We will prioritize based on this data, we will check if there are kitchens that have been built and then immediately put them into operation. So, in Papua, in East Nusa Tenggara, including several areas on other islands, there are some in Sumatra, and some in Java, I saw earlier, that will be immediate," Sudaryono stated.

Read: Why BGN Shuts Down Over 800 Free Meal Kitchens in Indonesia

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