By Ananda Teresia
JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia sees its ambitious programme of free school meals reaching just 72 million recipients by year-end, against an initial target of 83 million, the head of the national nutrition agency said on Thursday, as it scrambles to add kitchens.
Since the programme’s launch in January, it has been marred by cases of massive food poisoning, affecting more than 11,000 children nationwide, data from non-governmental organisation Network for Education Watch (JPPI) showed.
The agency, which runs the meals programme, put the figure lower, at 6,000 children by September, however.
Its head, Dadan Hindayana, said the free school meals would reach 83 million children by February 2026, and 70 million by year-end.
“I will do my best to reach it,” he told Reuters in an interview on Thursday, referring to the target of 83 million. “But the most realistic is 70 million (by year-end) and hopefully could be more.”
This was because work to build kitchens in remote areas, such as the easternmost region of Papua, would only be completed by year-end, meaning the earliest they could turn out meals would be 2026.
By Thursday, 11,000 kitchens nationwide were feeding 35.4 million women and children, he added.
While health-focused NGOs have called for the programme’s suspension, President Prabowo Subianto has defended it, saying only a small percentage of beneficiaries were affected by food poisoning.
Even in Jakarta, the capital, the agency expects construction of kitchens to still be low, with a tally of just 300 now against an initial target of 800, Hindayana said.
“I think it’s fine,” Hindayana quoted Prabowo as saying when the agency chief told the president about the new target.
The government has earmarked 171 trillion rupiah ($10.3 billion) for the programme this year, but the agency will only be able to spend 99 trillion rupiah until year-end.
Next year, the allocation for the president’s flagship programme is to be doubled to 335 trillion rupiah.
($1=16,565.0000 rupiah)
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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