Indonesia launches free-meal programme to fight stunted growth
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Students enjoying free meals at Lengkong 1 elementary school in Tangerang, Indonesia, on Jan 6.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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JAKARTA - Indonesia launched an ambitious US$4.3 billion (S$5.9 billion) free-meal programme on Jan 6 to combat stunted growth due to malnutrition, a key election promise of President Prabowo Subianto.
Mr Prabowo has pledged to provide nutritious meals free to tens of millions of schoolchildren and pregnant women, saying it would improve their quality of life and boost economic growth.
“This is historic for Indonesia for the first time conducting a nationwide nutrition programme for toddlers, students, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers,” presidential spokesman Hasan Nasbi said late on Jan 5.
At least 190 kitchens run by third-party catering services opened nationwide, including some run by military bases, and were busy preparing meals from midnight before distributing them to schoolchildren and pregnant women.
The government has allocated 10,000 rupiah (85 Singapore cents) per meal, with kitchens preparing rice, protein, vegetables and fruits for students.
The programme has a budget of 71 trillion rupiah for the 2025 fiscal year and is set to deliver meals to almost 83 million people by 2029.
It is designed to tackle stunting, which affects 21.5 per cent of children in the archipelago of some 282 million people.
The South-east Asian nation aims to reduce the rate to 5 per cent by 2045.
Mr Prabowo has been championing the programme since 2024’s presidential campaign, and his team has said the poorest and most remote areas of the South-east Asian archipelago would be prioritised.
He travelled to several countries, including the US and UK, after he was sworn in last October, seeking funding support.
He secured a US$10 billion deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November for support in several areas, including the free-meal programme.
The free-meal programme is designed to tackle stunting, which affects 21.5 per cent of children in the archipelago of some 282 million people.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
But analysts have said the scheme is not sustainable in the long term.
“I am quite pessimistic if everything is shouldered by the central government. Economically, it’s not sustainable,” said Mr Aditya Alta, a public policy analyst from the Centre for Indonesian Policy Studies think-tank.
“Stunting is a multidimensional issue and addressing it through just one approach is insufficient,” he said. AFP
