Students eat free meals on Nov 12, 2024 during a school lunch programme organised by the naval command in Makassar, South Sulawesi. — The Jakarta Post/ANN Photo

JAKARTA – The government has defended its decision to cut the budget for President Prabowo Subiant ‘s flagship free nutritious meal programme, saying that a lower price point would still allow authorities to provide quality meals for students and pregnant women.

President Prabowo announced at a press conference that the Government had set a per meal budget of Rp 10,000 (US$63 cents) for the programme, lower than his initial estimate of Rp 15,000.

The announcement has sparked widespread concern over whether the government can realise the programme’s ambitious aim to provide free nutritious meals to some 82.9 million schoolchildren, teachers, pregnant women and babies.

Presidential Communications Office head Hasan Nasbi said the government had successfully piloted the free meals program across Java in recent months based on the reduced budget of Rp 10,000 per meal.

“With that price, we can provide meals of around 600 to 700 calories per serving for students,” Hasan said, as quoted by Antara.

Coordinating Social Empowerment Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said on the same day that authorities would allocate more funding in successive years after maintaining the Rp 10,000 per meal budget during the first year of the programme.

“Despite the limited budget, we will make sure the quality of the meals are good, including ensuring that they are nutritious and fresh,” he said.

During Friday’s press conference, the President cited fiscal constraints as the reason behind the decision to slash the per meal budget.

“We want to set the price to Rp 15,000 per serving, but the fiscal condition [accommodates only] Rp 10,000. We have calculated that Rp 10,000 is enough to provide meals of good quality and nutrition in most regions,” he told reporters.

A centrepiece of Prabowo’s election campaign, the primary aims of the free nutritious meal programme are to combat childhood stunting and malnutrition as well as to produce quality human resources.

Prior to his inauguration in October, Prabowo’s transition team said the free meals programme would be carried out in stages toward full implementation in 2029, when its estimated annual cost would reach Rp 450 trillion ($28 billion).

The government has set aside Rp 71 trillion for the program’s first-stage implementation next year to feed around 19.4 million schoolchildren and pregnant women.

Observers have questioned the Prabowo administration’s capacity to handle the sheer scale of the logistics necessary to deliver the programme. They have also raised concerns over the programme’s potential burden on state finances and the economy.

Regardless, Prabowo has repeatedly expressed his commitment to the project as a “strategic” nationwide programme.

Following his inauguration, the President said he believed Indonesia could follow India’s success in providing free meals to schoolchildren for decades, even though it had a lower GDP per capita compared to Indonesia.

Prabowo also said he was confident the programme would provide economic benefits for farmers and food producers across the country. — THE JAKARTA POST/ANN