Jakarta. The free meal program for children and expectant mothers, a cornerstone of President-elect Prabowo Subianto's campaign, is expected to be both financially massive and logistically complex, an official said on Tuesday.

Once fully implemented under Prabowo's presidency, the government will need to allocate Rp 1.2 trillion ($76.7 million) daily, including Rp 800 billion for the procurement of food and milk, according to Dadan Hindayana, head of the National Nutrition Agency.

"The free nutritious meal program will benefit 82.9 million people, requiring an annual budget of approximately Rp 400 trillion ($25.6 billion)," Dadan said at the BNI Investor Daily Summit, held at the Jakarta Convention Center.

"The agency will be spending Rp 1.2 trillion per day as an investment in human capital, with Rp 800 billion dedicated to nutritious food. The scale of spending will be enormous when the program reaches full capacity," he added.

Each service unit will cater to around 3,000 children and will require 200 kilograms of rice, 350 kilograms of chicken or 3,000 eggs, 350 kilograms of vegetables, and 600 liters of milk daily.

"At full scale, we will operate over 30,000 service units across Indonesia, providing meals to students from kindergarten to high school, as well as to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers," Dadan explained, outlining the challenges the agency will face under the new administration.

Despite the significant burden on the state budget, Dadan emphasized that the program would swiftly benefit the national economy by boosting farmers' incomes. The substantial spending will be directed toward agricultural products and small and medium enterprises that will supply the meals.

"The main weakness in our economy stems from a lack of liquidity in rural areas. The free nutritious meal program, championed by Prabowo and Gibran (Rakabuming Raka), will help address this issue," Dadan noted.

Prabowo, who will be inaugurated as president on October 20, plans to roll out the program in stages, starting with 3 million beneficiaries in January 2025.

"The number of beneficiaries will increase to 6 million by April and reach 15 million by July, with a total budget of Rp 71 trillion ($4.5 billion)," Dadan said.

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