Jakarta – Economist from Paramadina University, Wijayanto Samirin, has praised the integration of local food sources with the Free Nutritious Meal Program (MBG), describing it as an important strategy to maintain fiscal sustainability, strengthen national food security, and support the long-term effectiveness of government programs.
“The integration of the Free Nutritious Meal Program with local food potential, including strategic government initiatives such as the Red-and-White Chicken Farming Program from the Ministry of Agriculture, is a crucial step to ensure the fiscal sustainability of MBG,” Wijayanto said.
According to Wijayanto, the success of the MBG program largely depends on the availability and continuity of food supplies. Therefore, optimizing local food potential supported by various strategic government initiatives is key to ensuring that the program runs effectively and sustainably.
“By utilizing local food ingredients that are more easily accessible, fresh, and relatively stable in price, the sustainability of this program can be ensured,” he explained.
He further noted that reliance on imported food poses the risk of increasing the state budget burden and making large-scale social programs such as MBG vulnerable to global price fluctuations.
Optimizing local food sources helps reduce costs, secure supply stability, stimulate the economy, and deliver direct benefits to farmers, livestock breeders, and MSMEs, while also strengthening the animal protein supply chain through the nationally sustainable Red-and-White Chicken Farming initiative.
Wijayanto stated that the MBG program has the potential to drive national economic growth. In his view, the program can stimulate the national economy and represents a revolutionary idea.
“If implementation at the local level can be carried out on a massive, measurable, and well-targeted scale, the likelihood of achieving the program’s intended outcomes will be much higher,” he said.
Similarly, Junior Expert Policy Analyst at the Ministry of Health, Agus Triwinarto, assessed that the use of local food can ensure the sustainability of the MBG program’s daily supply. Increased diversity of safe and hygienic local food, he noted, will ensure that MBG menus meet the required nutritional adequacy standards.
“With greater diversity of local food, along with guarantees of food safety and hygienic meals, the MBG provided will indeed meet nutritional adequacy,” Agus said.
For reference, the Free Nutritious Meal Program is a government priority program aimed at improving the quality of human resources by fulfilling the nutritional needs of children and vulnerable groups, while simultaneously strengthening food security and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the program through the integration of local food sources.
