Local Value Chain Integration in Indonesia's Free Nutritious Meal Program:
A Comparative Literature Review on Smallholder Farmer Empowerment and Food System Resilience
Denny Aditya Dwiwarman and Astri Dwi Andriani
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Abstract:
Background: Nationally funded school and community meal programs have expanded rapidly worldwide, now reaching 466 million children and channeling an estimated US$84 billion annually, with documented multiplier effects of up to US$1 to US$35 and 7.4 million jobs generated globally (World Food Programme [WFP], 2024). Indonesia’s Free Nutritious Meal Program (Program Makan Bergizi Gratis, MBG) represents one of the largest such interventions, serving over 63 million beneficiaries with a disbursed budget of Rp88.15 trillion as of May 2026 (Kementerian Keuangan Republik Indonesia, 2026). However, with more than 60% of Indonesian farming households now classified as smallholders (petani gurem), concerns persist that fragmented procurement systems and intermediary (tengkulak) dominance may divert local economic multiplier effects away from rural producers (Fauzan, 2024; Sudrajat et al., 2022).
Purpose: This review examines how local value chain integration principles, evidenced in international best practice, most notably Brazil’s Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar (PNAE), which mandates a minimum 30 to 45% direct procurement share from family farmers (Law No. 11,947/2009; Law No. 15,226/2025), and in comparable home-grown school feeding (HGSF) schemes across Sub-Saharan Africa (Andreozzi et al., 2025; Kamau et al., 2025), can inform smallholder-inclusive procurement governance within MBG.
Approach: Employing a narrative/critical literature review method (Grant & Booth, 2009; Snyder, 2019), this paper synthesizes peer-reviewed studies, institutional reports, and policy documents on Short Food Supply Chains (SFSC) and Food System Resilience frameworks, using Indonesia’s Cianjur district as an illustrative contextual reference drawn from secondary sources.
Key Themes: The review identifies structural procurement barriers rooted in multi-layer intermediary chains (Fauzan, 2024; Idris et al., 2021), the theoretical case for direct farmer-kitchen partnerships grounded in SFSC theory (Renting et al., 2003; Kneafsey et al., 2013), the institutional role of existing farmer-group (kelompok tani) and village-enterprise (BUMDes) structures (Nuryanti & Swastika, 2016; Wulandari & Setiawan, 2026), and comparative regulatory lessons from Brazil and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Implications: The paper proposes a conceptual Direct Partnership (Production Cluster) Model to strengthen local agri-food system resilience and smallholder market access within Indonesia’s nutrition program architecture.
Keywords:
BUMDes; food system resilience; free nutritious meal program; local value chain integration; PNAE; procurement governance; short food supply chains; smallholder farmers
Citation: Denny Aditya Dwiwarman and Astri Dwi Andriani (2026). Local Value Chain Integration in Indonesia's Free Nutritious Meal Program: A Comparative Literature Review on Smallholder Farmer Empowerment and Food System Resilience. Horizon J. Hum. Soc. Sci. Res. 8 (S), 92–104. https://doi.org/10.37534/bp.jhssr.2026.v8.nS.id1398.p92
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