“Bapanas, along with the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN), is carrying out strategic efforts to represent the government in making specific interventions for stunting,” Deputy for Food and Nutritional Insecurity at Bapanas Nyoto Suwignyo stated here on Friday.
He noted that the food assistance packages, comprising 10 eggs and one chicken meat each, would be distributed in stages six times in the next six months.
The seven provinces prioritized for assistance are Banten, West Java, Central Java, East Java, North Sumatra, North Sulawesi, and East Nusa Tenggara.
Suwignyo stated that eggs and chicken are procured with the help of the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises that connects the government to farmers in the target regions.
Meanwhile, the distribution is carried out by state-run food holding ID FOOD, targeting 1,446,089 beneficiary families.
The phase two of the stunting handling food assistance was launched at the office of Jatisampurna Sub-district Government, Bekasi City, West Java, on Friday.
Yanti Susanti, 39, one of the beneficiaries from Jatikarya Village, stated that the assistance is a blessing amid the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
"I once received assistance too, but it was a long time ago. Today, I got eggs and chicken for suhoor and iftar," she stated.
Stunting reduction is the Indonesian government's priority program that is aimed at bringing down stunting prevalence to 14 percent by 2024.
Indonesia's stunting prevalence declined by 2.8 percentage points to 21.6 percent in 2022, from 24.4 percent in 2021, as per the 2022 Indonesian Nutritional Status Survey (SSGI).
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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