The National Nutrition Agency (NNA) said 269 of the facilities would be established across 16 provinces in eastern Indonesia, including Gorontalo, Maluku and several provinces on Papua island, where rates of childhood stunting remain high.
Another 211 kitchens will be established in other parts of the country, NNA chief Sudaryono said in a video posted on Instagram on Wednesday.
The expansion forms part of President Prabowo Subianto’s ambitious programme to provide free meals to millions of Indonesians, particularly schoolchildren and expectant mothers, as part of efforts to tackle under-nutrition.
Launched in 2025, the programme has a target of reaching about 83 million schoolchildren and pregnant women. However, its implementation has been accompanied by a series of challenges, including allegations of corruption, reports of more than 50,000 food-poisoning cases, the closure of privately operated kitchens and concerns over the programme’s impact on government finances.
The NNA said it would give priority to beneficiaries in remote areas after the programme’s budget for this year was reduced to 229 trillion rupiah ($12.8 billion), from an earlier allocation of 335 trillion rupiah. The government has earmarked 240 trillion rupiah for the programme next year.
Sudaryono said the new kitchens would be activated from Friday, with staff undergoing training as operators gradually increase the number of meals prepared throughout October.
The rollout is expected to give communities in some of Indonesia’s more isolated regions greater access to the government-funded meal programme, although questions remain about the payment arrangements for kitchen operators.
Once the kitchens become operational, their owners are expected to start receiving payments from the government. However, details of the payment mechanism have not been fully disclosed.
The financial uncertainty has already affected some private investors who responded to the government’s push by constructing kitchens in remote locations.
Reuters previously reported that hundreds of investors who had built facilities for the programme were left waiting for government payments after budget-efficiency measures delayed funding. Some of the kitchens reportedly remained idle for months despite having been constructed specifically to serve the programme.
The latest expansion therefore comes as the government seeks to balance its nutritional objectives with the financial and operational pressures surrounding one of President Prabowo’s signature campaign promises.
By directing a significant share of the new kitchens to eastern provinces and other disadvantaged areas, the NNA says it intends to extend the programme to communities where nutritional needs are considered particularly pressing.