Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions has stressed that the government's Free Nutritious Meals program offers a big opportunity for villages to boost their economy.
Head of the ministry's Information and Development Agency (BPI), Ivanovich Agusta, said that the opportunity is open because the National Nutrition Agency has decided that cooperatives and village-owned enterprises (BUMDes) will supply food for the program.
"It can be used to drive the people's economy if the institutions that are participating are cooperatives and BUMDes because they are run by village residents," he explained in a podcast on the BPI's YouTube channel on Friday.
According to estimates, he added, around Rp35 million (around US$2,240) to Rp40 million (around US$2,560) will be spent per day in each kitchen producing food for the program.
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The Ministry of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions will also encourage BUMDes, especially those engaged in supplying food, to take advantage of this opportunity.
Agusta affirmed that his ministry will help BUMDes to be qualified as food suppliers through a number of steps, such as accelerating the process for BUMDes to become legal entities.
There are several requirements that BUMDes will need to meet to become suppliers of food for the Free Nutritious Meals program, for instance, they will need to be officially registered with the Ministry of Villages and Development of Disadvantaged Regions and be legal entities.
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They will also need to have a taxpayer identification number and business identification number, and their commodity or service products will need to be included in the electronic catalog of the National Public Procurement Agency (LKPP).
The Free Nutritious Meals program is one of the work programs of President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka for their 2024–2029 tenure.
The government formed the National Nutrition Agency in August 2024 to support the program's implementation.
