Indonesia pauses new free nutritious‑meal kitchens amid budget cuts

The Indonesian National Nutrition Agency (BGN) has placed a moratorium on opening new free nutritious‑meal (MBG) kitchens after new head Nanik Sudaryati Deyang took office following the detention of the former director. The agency aims to align with the Ministry of Finance’s directive to streamline the program’s budget, which has been reduced from Rp335 trillion to Rp268 trillion, and later to an estimated Rp26.8 trillion.

Nanik said the focus will shift to improving existing kitchens, enforcing quality standards, and prioritising under‑served frontier, outermost and remote (3T) regions. Requests for new kitchens in urban districts will be suspended while the agency recalculates needs; only six kitchens per district may be retained. The agency also plans to re‑orient beneficiaries, targeting schools and children that truly need nutritional support and moving away from quantity‑driven expansion.

Key statements include: “To produce quality food, including improvement and training of human resources… if the kitchen does not meet the standards, we will definitely suspend it,” and “In 2026 we will pursue quality, not quantity, and will classify kitchens based on compliance with technical guidelines.” The moratorium may be lifted after a review determines whether additional kitchens are necessary.