By Ed Harris

GRAND SABLE, Mauritius (Reuters) - Mauritian planter Suryadev Benee does not follow the intricacies of European agricultural policy, but he knows about his sugar.

And the 45 year-old father of three -- whose father was also a planter -- is worried by Europe's decision to slash its preferential sugar prices by 36 percent over four years.

More than three decades ago, in 1975, Europe signed a sugar deal with nineteen African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to trade agreed quantities of sugar at guaranteed prices.

Europe's price cuts reduce a hefty expense to the taxpayer and conform with a World Trade Organization requirement to make the sector more market-oriented.

Benee has tried growing vegetables on his 12 hectares of volcanic, rocky hillside that overlook the sea, but when the rains come the good soil is washed away.

And surveying his battered crop in the tailwinds of a recent cyclone, he says he cannot grow anything else.

Away from the sugar estates, an estimated 28,000 independent planters like Benee produce 25 percent of the Indian Ocean island's sugar on plots of land that range from almost nothing to many hundred hectares.

Their future is looking uncertain.

"We're waiting to see what the government will do," Benee says. "It's hard to make a decision."

Unlike other crops tested on the island, cane is resilient to disease, drought and cyclones, so Mauritius is sticking with sugar and plans to reorganize its facilities to become more flexible and efficient.

For example, 11 existing mills will merge into four mills producing raw sugar, special sugars, ethanol, and even electricity.

But while the big estates and sugar mills have started to revamp their operations, many planters are searching for help to weather the expected price cuts.

In February, parliament passed a compensation package for an estimated 7,200 workers from the factories and sugar estates, who are expected to take voluntary retirement in coming years.

But planters, most of whose plots are less than half a hectare of the most marginal lands, say they have received nothing but an offer of help to improve their soil and advice to regroup into larger, more efficient units.

"Regrouping is good for flat lands," Benee says, scratching his graying stubble. "We cannot mechanize these fields."

DEPRECIATION

Already hit by the end of preferential trade deals in its textiles industry, job losses in the sugar sector could upset the island's social balance, an official strategy paper says.

"The level of job losses in these two sectors can now become threats to this harmony," the 10-year sugar strategy paper says, adding that tourism, another pillar of Mauritius' economy, also requires a stable social environment to flourish.

Benee said the 19 percent depreciation of the Mauritius rupee against the euro last year eased the pain of Europe's first price cut in July of five percent, since Europe pays for its sugar with euros.

But two deep cuts in the near future will slash European preferential prices to 335.2 euros ($440.9) per ton of sugar in mid-2009 from 497.5 euros at present.

Mauritius' economy is expected to lose 782 million euros over 2006-2015 as the price cuts take effect.

To ease the cost of adjustment, the European Union is expected to give Mauritius roughly 127 million euros in the next four years as aid for the sugar industry.

Some planters are concerned that most of the cash will go toward restructuring the big sugar estates, rather than easing the plight of the planters.

Further north along the coast, Salil Roy, a planter with 40 hectares, sips tea on his veranda while the post-cyclone rains drench his courtyard.

"We would have hoped the reforms would have been more humane," he said. "My concern is the participation of all planters."

Elsewhere Mauritius is trying to move away from its traditional sugar and textile sectors by diversifying and opening the economy.

In its 2006/7 budget, unveiled last year, Mauritius introduced 40 reforms designed to attract foreign investment.

Benee says he would like government help to shift from sugar to tourism in the country, famed for its palm-fringed beaches and turquoise waters.

"We don't have experience, no, but we have to do something else," he said.