Transmigration Ministry, BGN plan free meals kitchens in 154 regions

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Transmigration and the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) agreed to cooperate in establishing special kitchens, or nutrition fulfillment service units (SPGG), for the Free Nutritious Meals program in 154 transmigration regions.

"The BGN will bear the cost of establishing the SPPGs, which will be managed by transmigrants and will optimize raw materials resulting from these people's agricultural, plantation, and fishing activities," Transmigration Minister Iftitah Sulaiman Suryanagara noted in a statement received here on Thursday.

During a meeting with BGN Head Dadan Hindayana in Jakarta on Wednesday (March 12), Suryanagara shared that his team and the agency would soon translate their agreement into a memorandum of understanding.

Suryanagara also underlined that his ministry seeks basic information on SPPG to contribute to implementing the national priority program.

"The Ministry of Transmigration wants to learn about the SPPG concept and identify how we can contribute since our plan is to establish such kitchens in transmigration areas," he remarked.

He said the SPPGs his ministry intends to build would be designed akin to eateries.

Meanwhile, BGN Head Dadan Hindayana welcomed the Transmigration Ministry's enthusiasm for participating in the Free Nutritious Meals program and its plan to establish integrated transmigration economic regions.

Hindayana highlighted that his agency aims to establish 1,542 SPPGs across the country to produce and distribute free meals while empowering local residents as their day-to-day operators.

"If the Ministry of Transmigration wants to build an SPPG, please proceed by preparing the land. The development and monitoring processes can be delegated to us at the BGN. Before construction begins, we will first send a team to check preliminary preparations," he stated.