Prabowo Program's Potential to Expand Indonesia's Dairy Consumption
Indonesian president-elect Prabowo Subianto, who will be inaugurated in October, pledged to establish a $28 billion program to provide free meals to over 80 million schoolchildren during his election campaign. The Free Meal Program aims to boost childhood nutrition, as roughly one in five children under five in Indonesia are stunted.
In particular, the program is expected to boost Indonesia’s milk consumption. Prabowo has declared Indonesia to be in a “White Revolution” this decade to expand milk consumption. At 16.27 kilograms per capita, Indonesia’s milk consumption lags behind that of its neighbors and is well below the global average of 100 kilograms per capita. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that Indonesia will consume 4 million tons of milk this year.
Currently, Indonesia is a net importer of milk, with only 16 percent of dairy demand met domestically. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has cited limited land availability and the cost barriers of raising cattle as challenges for Indonesia’s dairy industry. To lift milk production, the Ministry of Agriculture will allocate 1.5 million hectares of land for dairy farming. Potential sites are located in Central Sulawesi, North Sumatra, and South Sumatra. Indonesia is projected to import 1.5 million dairy cows from the United States as well as Brazil, New Zealand, and Australia to expand its milk production capacity.
