European foreign ministers were urged to grant a fair deal to millions of Arab farmers as they met in Dublin today.
International development agency Oxfam claimed the livelihoods of millions of farmers are already at risk with three quarters of the Arab world's poor living in rural areas.
The charity called on the EU to improve the agricultural trade provisions granted to Arab countries as up to 40 per cent of their population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods.
New research in Jordan and Lebanon showed farmers are already struggling to make a living and support their families and send their children to school.
Mr Adam Leach, the charity's regional director for the Middle East, said the EU should not insist on reciprocal trade arrangements given the potentially disastrous impact that rapid opening of Arab markets could have on the livelihoods of small-scale farmers.
At the same time the EU should press ahead with reforms of its own Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), to bring an end to those subsidies that encourage overproduction and lead to export dumping, he added.
"The EU should level the playing field and allow Arab countries to enjoy immediate and full access to EU agricultural markets, while keeping a degree of protection to safeguard their rural development needs," he said.
Meanwhile, European Commissioner for External Affairs Chris Patten said the EU would use the two-day meeting of foreign ministers with their counterparts from the Mediterranean region to develop further co-operation despite the volatile situations in Iraq and the Middle East.
He said terrorist attacks in Casablanca, Istanbul and Madrid had reinforced the relevance of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership.