“The SDGs have a number of really important trade goals within them. For example, goal 2 talks about smallholder farmers and ending unfair trade rules that are keeping them out of markets,” said Tim Aldred, head of policy and research at the Fairtrade Foundation.

“It’s great that the government is signing up to them but our experience to date, with the example of sugar being a key one, is that the rhetoric isn’t matching the reality. We think a more robust approach is needed right across government to make sure we don’t give with one hand and take away with the other in trade policy decisions that go the wrong way for lesser-developed countries.”

Fairtrade says that generations of sugar cane farmers and their families have come to depend on the UK and European markets, and their access has been shielded by EU caps on the amount of sugar grown in Europe.

But as part of reforms to the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), quotas on beet sugar production are due to be lifted from 2017. Fairtrade cited research commissioned by the Department for International Development (DfID) in 2012 showing the change was likely to push 200,000 people in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries into poverty by 2020.

Our survival depends on what we sell to the EU and the UK … The reforms will squeeze us out of that market

<cite>Alexia Ludford, sugar cane farmer from Jamaica</cite>

Alexia Ludford, a sugar cane farmer from Jamaica and Fairtrade project manager at the Worthy Park Cane Farmers’ Association, said her colleagues were very concerned and needed support to deal with the effect of the EU change.

“It will completely push us back into poverty,” Ludford, 33, said. “I know that poverty sounds like a harsh word but it’s a fact that our survival depends on what we sell to the EU and the UK … The reforms will squeeze us probably completely out of that market.”

A study commissioned by Fairtrade this year showed that the EU reform would cost Mozambique and Swaziland alone more than $40m (£25.8m) from October 2017, with revenue from sugar exports declining by 5-7%.

“Post reform, these producers will face greater price volatility as they become more exposed to the world market and this will affect the income earned by growers. Over 39% of Swaziland’s sugar was exported to Europe in 2014 and the price per tonne of sugar has already fallen from £141 [$218] to £129,” Fairtrade said.

Aldred said the EU was providing support to farmers affected by reforms to its CAP but that this was not always effective and needed to be reviewed.

“The adjustment support programme … to date has not really delivered for the people directly affected. The right things were thought about, then there wasn’t the follow-through,” he said.

The situation has been exacerbated by the fact that global sugar prices have plummeted over the past three years – hitting a six-and-a-half year low in June – because of increased production, and are expected to remain volatile, according to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation.

In a February report, Fairtrade said the combination of EU reforms and the slump in prices “threaten disaster for small-scale farmers and their communities”.

Ludford, who was in London to support the Fairtrade campaign, said the farmers in her association in Jamaica did not want a handout.

“We would rather use the term investment – whether that means diversification, that is an option. We hope DfID can lead on this with businesses and civil society to make sure we get the support we need during this transition period.”

The Fairtrade Foundation is an independent certification body that licenses the use of the Fairtrade mark for more than 5,000 products in the UK, including coffee, tea, chocolate, cocoa, bananas and sugar. More than 1.5 million people in 74 countries benefit from the Fairtrade system.

The online campaign is meant to show the British government that the public is behind poverty reduction and wants aid spending bolstered by fair trade policies, Aldred said.

“If we are going to deliver against the ambition of the SDGs … then we are going to need to take it beyond aid; we are going to need it to be about the whole of government working together to make sure that we are thinking about the effect that trade policy decisions are going to have on people in lesser developed countries,” he said.

“What sugar tells us is if you take your eye off the ball, you are going to make the wrong decision … at some stage, and you will undermine the efforts you are making elsewhere through the aid programme.”

Fairtrade says a December meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Kenya will offer an “early test” of whether the SDGs herald a new commitment to more equitable trade.