Jakarta. Indonesia has an annual surplus of 200,000 tons of eggs and 600,000 tons of chicken meat, which will be utilized to support the government's free nutritious meal program for students, according to the National Nutrition Agency.

Dadan Hindayana, head of the agency, announced the plans at the BNI Investor Daily Summit 2024, held at the Jakarta Convention Center on Tuesday.

The program, part of President-elect Prabowo Subianto's flagship initiative, aims to provide free meals to 15 million children in its initial phase, expanding to 82.9 million schoolchildren, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers by the end of Prabowo's term. The government has allocated Rp 71 trillion ($4.5 billion) to fund the initiative, with daily costs expected to reach Rp 1.2 trillion ($76.7 million), of which Rp 800 billion will be used for food procurement.

“This is a crucial investment in Indonesia’s human capital,” said Dadan. “Prabowo-Gibran’s administration is committed to improving the country’s nutrition, particularly in reducing stunting.”

The program is seen as key to lowering Indonesia’s stunting rate, which dropped from 24.4 percent in 2021 to 21.5 percent in 2023. The government aims to reduce this further to 14 percent by 2024, improving overall health and well-being in the community. Full implementation is set to begin in January 2025.