Almost a Month After, Prabowo Finally Makes a Surprise Inspection of Free Nutritious Meals

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The free nutritious meal program has been running for almost a month. President Prabowo Subianto, on Monday morning (3/2/2025), directly inspected the implementation of the free nutritious meal program in the Rawamangun area, Jakarta.

Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya confirmed the sudden inspection carried out by President Prabowo. "This morning, the President suddenly wanted to directly check the implementation of free nutritious meals at schools," Teddy told reporters.

President Prabowo visited SD Negeri 05 Jati and TK Negeri 02 in the Pulo Gadung area, East Jakarta. The residents and students were enthusiastic in welcoming the President, who arrived in a Maung vehicle.

Dressed in safari attire and wearing a brown hat, the President waved to the children and residents who cheered to welcome him. This marked the first time the President directly inspected the free nutritious meal program, or MBG, which officially began on January 6th.

The President once inquired about the time the kitchen staff started cooking to ensure the quality of the food. The neatly arranged and served menu was also checked by the Head of State.

President Prabowo, who arrived at the school, immediately inspected the implementation of the MBG program in several classes. The Head of State was seen paying close attention to the food menu served to the students at the school.

In one of the classes, President Prabowo was seen conversing with the students about the MBG menu they were eating. The President also had discussions with the teachers at the school. The Bureau of Press, Media, and Information of the Presidential Secretariat informed that President Prabowo wanted to ensure the MBG program was running well.

After SDN Jati 05 Pagi, President Prabowo continued his visit to the Pulogadung 02 State Kindergarten in East Jakarta. This visit was aimed at observing the implementation of the MBG program at the early childhood education level.

The President also had time to observe the teaching and learning process at the school from the classroom window. Not long at the school, the President continued his review to the kitchen that provides food for the MBG program in Pulo Gadung, East Jakarta.

A number of officers and cooks also welcomed President Prabowo in the kitchen. On that occasion, the Head of State also had a dialogue with the cooks who prepared nutritious food for school children.

“Assalamualaikum. Are you all on duty?” Prabowo asked.

"Yes sir, this is where the vegetables are made," said the public kitchen manager to Prabowo.

The President also asked what time the kitchen staff started cooking to ensure the quality of the food. The food menu that was served and neatly arranged was also checked. The food in the lunch boxes was then sent to schools for students to enjoy.

The MBG program is provided in stages with a target of 19.47 million recipients in 2025. The Head of the National Nutrition Agency, Dadan Hindayana, once said that in the first three months, the target for MBG recipients was three million people.

The MBG budget allocation for 2025 reaches IDR 71 trillion. This allocation consists of IDR 63.36 trillion for national nutrition fulfillment and IDR 7.43 trillion for operational management support programs. With this allocation, roughly, the price of food per portion is around IDR 10,000.

However, this allocation is expected to increase. The Ministry of Finance has prepared an additional budget allocation of IDR 100 trillion in 2025. The source is the result of budget efficiency in all central and regional government agencies, especially since President Prabowo has issued Presidential Instruction (Inpres) Number 1 of 2025 which orders all ministries/institutions to comb through the budget with an accumulated target of IDR 306.7 trillion. The budget that was cut includes office operational expenses, ceremonial expenses, official travel, and regional transfer funds.

The specific targets targeted by this program, first, are increasing access to nutritious food, nutritional knowledge, and healthy eating patterns. Second, increasing student achievement and attendance participation and reducing the number of school dropouts. Third, the target in the economic sector is the utilization of local food ingredients and increasing the welfare of farmers and MSME actors.

The fourth target is to reduce poverty. The MBG program is expected to simultaneously create jobs and reduce the burden on the poor in meeting food needs.