Agartala, Dec 15 (IANS): The Food Corporation of India (FCI) started procuring rice at a minimum support price from Tripura farmers on Saturday at the insistence of the state government.

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb launched the scheme at a function held in Kamalpur, 130 km north of Agartala.

"To achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan to double the farmers income by 2022, for the first time the FCI started procuring rice at the minimum support price.

"The FCI has started the scheme in Tripura following persuasion by the state government," Deb said at the function attended by a large number of farmers.

He said the state government would soon start providing pulses and other essential items through the Public Distribution System (PDS).

An official of Tripura's Food and Civil Supplies Department said that the FCI, maintaining the stipulated standard of the Central government, has targeted to procure 10,000 MT of rice.

According to Tripura's Agriculture Minister Pranjit Singh Roy, Tripura produced 8.58 lakh MT of rice with the average rice yield in the northeastern state being 2,951 kg per hectare.