Jakarta. The government will replace a flat daily incentive for kitchens under its free nutritious meal (MBG) program with a per-portion payment from Oct. 5, linking payments to the number of meals served to beneficiaries.

Under the revised scheme, each MBG kitchens (SPPG) will receive Rp 2,000 for every meal portion served, replacing the previous fixed incentive of Rp 6 million ($336) per kitchen per day.

Deputy Finance Minister Juda Agung said the change was intended to ensure incentives reflected differences in the number of beneficiaries served by each kitchen.

“ This is genuinely an effort to improve the system, including payments or incentives for each kitchen. How can a kitchen serving 500 people receive the same incentive as one serving 3,000? That should not be the case,” Juda said at a media gathering in Bogor on Thursday.

Under the new arrangement, kitchens serving more beneficiaries will receive larger incentives, while those serving fewer people will receive less. The government said the adjustment was part of an evaluation of the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program to align payments with actual service delivery.

The change also reinforces the requirement that SPPGs must be operational to qualify for the incentive. Kitchens that do not provide meals will not receive the Rp 2,000-per-portion payment. The same rule applies to kitchens under suspension, which will receive no incentives while their services are halted.

The MBG program allocates Rp 15,000 per meal portion, comprising Rp 10,000 for food, Rp 3,000 for operational costs and Rp 2,000 for incentives tied to service availability and quality.

Juda said the revised payment mechanism was among the government's efforts to improve the program's management and ensure that payments to SPPGs corresponded to the services they deliver.

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