Jakarta – Economist from Paramadina University, Wijayanto Samirin, has praised the government’s move to integrate the Free Nutritious Meal Program (MBG) with local food potential as well as strategic initiatives such as the Red-and-White Chicken Farming Program from the Ministry of Agriculture.
This integration is viewed as a crucial step in ensuring the fiscal sustainability of the MBG program while also strengthening the resilience of the national food supply chain.
According to Wijayanto, utilizing local food sources through smallholder livestock farming and regional commodities not only supports the fulfillment of national nutrition standards, but also generates broader economic impacts.
Such a scheme allows MBG to function as a policy instrument that promotes inclusive and gradual economic empowerment within communities.
“By utilizing local food ingredients that are more accessible, fresher, and relatively stable in price, the sustainability of this program can be ensured,” he said.
He also noted that the MBG program introduces a new approach to policy formulation and implementation.
“In my view, MBG is a revolutionary idea,” he added.
Wijayanto further emphasized that MBG has significant potential as a driver of the national economy, particularly through measured and consistent implementation at the regional level.
Strengthening program governance on an ongoing basis is seen as key to ensuring that the integration of nutrition fulfillment policies and local economic development runs optimally.
Meanwhile, Junior Expert Policy Analyst at the Ministry of Health, Agus Triwinarto, assessed that the utilization of local food is a key factor in ensuring the sustainability of MBG’s daily food supply. The diversity of local food, he said, helps ensure that MBG menus meet nutritional adequacy while remaining safe and hygienic.
“With increased diversity of local food, along with guarantees of food safety and hygienic meals, the MBG provided will indeed meet nutritional adequacy,” he said.
At the same time, Head of the Nutrition Working Team at the Ministry of Health, Yuni Zahraini, stated that MBG represents a strategic government intervention to sustainably meet the public’s nutritional needs.
The program is designed to reach tens of millions of beneficiaries every day, including vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and infants under two years old.
“The hope is that through MBG, the nutrition intervention will replace one high-quality daily meal. Supported by MBG meals rich in animal protein, this nutrition intervention program can complement other efforts,” she concluded.
The integration of MBG with local food sources is considered a vital foundation to ensure that the program is not only fiscally sustainable, but also capable of strengthening regional economies and improving the nutritional quality of the population simultaneously.