NEW DELHI - India has raised the price it will pay to buy new-season wheat from local farmers by 2.6% to 1,975 rupees per 100 kg, Farm Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said, to placate farmers and encourage them to step up planting that begins next month.

India, the world's second-biggest wheat consumer, sets a price each year to protect domestic farmers from distress sales and to cover emergency needs. It uses the grain to sell food to the poor at low prices.

(Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj and Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Alex Richardson) ((mayank.bhardwaj@thomsonreuters.com; +91-11-4954 8030; Twitter: @MayankBhardwaj9; Reuters Messaging: mayank.bhardwaj.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))