The Ministry of National Development Planning (PPN)/Bappenas has disclosed that they are currently conducting simulations regarding the budget for free lunches proposed by Prabowo and Gibran Rakabuming Raka. Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs at the Ministry of PPN/Bappenas, stated that they will release the budget figures once they are determined.
"At the moment, Bappenas is conducting simulations for this. It's not yet time to release the budget," she said on Monday (4/3/2024).
Previously, Prabowo and Gibran's Expert Team calculated the cost of their priority program for free lunches for schoolchildren, toddlers, and pregnant women for the first year. The estimated cost ranged from Rp 100 trillion to Rp 120 trillion.
Budiman Sudjatmiko, Vice Chairman of the Expert Council of Prabowo-Gibran's National Winning Team (TKN), stated that based on simulations and planning conducted by Prabowo-Gibran's Expert Team, the program would require full-scale funding of up to Rp 450 trillion per year.
"Thus, it is estimated that this program will gradually require funding of around Rp 100 to Rp 120 trillion in the first year of Prabowo-Gibran's administration," said Budiman.
According to Budiman, this program will not only rely on downstream spending (directly spending on meal portions without preparing the food sources) and the state budget alone, in order for the program to have a more significant impact on national economic growth and independence.
As an illustration, based on the composition of the "4 Healthy 5 Perfect" food recommendations, the program at its full scale would require up to 6.7 million tons of rice per year, 1.2 million tons of chicken meat per year, 500,000 tons of beef per year, 1 million tons of fish per year, various vegetable and fruit needs, and up to 4 million kiloliters of fresh cow's milk per year.
"Therefore, Prabowo-Gibran plans to build this program in collaboration with stakeholders in the national food industry sector. Upstream spending, downstreaming of food commodities on a district scale, and the concept of Collaborative Farming involving the national food industry will color the implementation of this program," he explained.