Jakarta, Feb. 10 -- Minister of National Development Planning Rachmat Pambudy viewed the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program as playing a strategic role in the broader national economic chain.

"The Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) program serves as a strategic big push model because it acts as both a push factor and a pull factor in the national economic chain, from producers to beneficiaries," he said in a statement issued here on Tuesday.

Pambudy cited the big push theory by Paul N. Rosenstein-Rodan, which underscores the importance of a major stimulus to create structural change. In Indonesia's context, the MBG program is considered such a stimulus.

"If budget variables for the Nutrition Fulfillment Service Units (SPPG), kitchen expendit...