Jakarta, February 19, 2025 - World-renowned panelists at the mini plenary session titled ‘Achieving Food Security: A Pillar of National Resilience’ agreed that President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship Free Nutritious Meal initiative will be a gamechanger to the nation’s future and will yield real economic benefit.

Deepali Khanna, Vice President & Head of Asia Pacific of The Rockefeller Foundation, said a research report by the World Food Programme (WFP) showed that every $1 investment into a free school meal programme will yield a 9x return. “The next step for the Indonesian Government is to link the initiative with local farmers and then serve as an enabler to improve agricultural practices in Indonesia,” said Deepali.

The Free Nutritious Meal is a flagship initiative by President Prabowo Subianto which seeks, at its initial stage, to provide free meals to almost 18 million school children across the nation. The Indonesian Government has allocated around IDR 171 trillion from this year state budget for the program, at the expense of funds previously allocated for other purposes such as infrastructure development.

Beverley Postma, Executive Director of Grow Asia, said the Free Nutritious Meal program is visionary because it takes priority over other economic initiatives such as infrastructure projects, and Indonesia can learn from countries like India, South Korea and Japan that already successfully implement such programs.

“Let us not start a new experiment, we don’t need to invent a new system, we can work on the one that’s working,” said Beverly.

Bayu Krisnamurthi, Former President Director of Perum Bulog and Former Deputy Trade Minister, said the Indonesian Government must adopt a long term perspective when deliberating policies related to food security and, particularly the Free Nutritious Meal program, and to separate between the real objective of such policies and political goals.

“Free school meal program in Japan has been going on for 100 years, and in South Korea for 70 years. Indonesia is just starting, so let’s be patient,” said Bayu.

Trihadi Saptoadi, Chairman of Executive Board Tahija Foundation, said the Indonesian Government must do the Free Nutritious Meal program by giving priority to those who need it the most, so there’s still flexibility to pursue other development objectives.

About the Indonesia Economic Summit (IES): The Indonesia Economic Summit (IES) is an annual initiative of the Indonesia Business Council (IBC). Initiated as a high-level forum for collaboration and innovation, IES seeks to promote competitiveness, inclusive growth, and sustainable prosperity for Indonesia. This forum reflects IBC’s commitment to advancing Indonesia’s role in the global economic arena.

About the Indonesian Business Council (IBC): The Indonesian Business Council (IBC) is an association of CEOs and business/industry leaders of leading companies in Indonesia, established in February 2023. IBC seeks to promote and strengthen Indonesia’s competitiveness, encourage collaboration, and enhance the contribution of the Indonesian private sector to economic growth and prosperity, through advocacy. For media inquiries, please contact:
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