BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) – Farm ministers from developing countries called on the European Union to reconsider planned cuts in guaranteed sugar prices at talks yesterday, arguing that the changes would hurt poor farmers.

Ministers from Fiji, Guyana, Jamaica, Mauritius and Swaziland were holding talks with their EU counterparts on behalf of the 76-nation African, Caribbean and Pacific group (ACP).

Britain’s farm minister Margaret Beckett is seeking an agreement on proposals to slash sugar prices by 39 percent before the end of November. Britain holds the EU presidency until the end of this year.

Italy, Spain, Ireland, France and Belgium oppose the plans, which they say will hurt local sugar producers.

The EU’s 40-year-old system for protecting sugar growers has come under fire from its world trade partners, and a successful World Trade Organisation challenge by Australia, Brazil and Thailand has forced the EU’s head office to propose cuts in its subsidy system.

The ACP group, most of which are former European colonies, are resisting the proposals, seeing a threat to their preferred access to EU markets at guaranteed prices.