P C Girihagama, T U Thilakawardane Sources and mechanisms of funding of agricultural research in Sri Lanka: 1990 to 2012   P C Girihagama, T U Thilakawardane & NS Jayasekera Sri Lanka Council for Agricultural Research Policy

Outline of the Presentation Introduction Objectives Materials & Methods Results Funding Procedures of Project management Conclusion

Introduction The Agriculture sector in Sri Lanka plays a key role in its economy as its contribution to the social and economic development, employment opportunities, health of the population, food security etc., is significantly important . Agricultural Research holds the key to the sustainable development of agricultural sector by increasing productivity and generating income for farmers. This in turn will help to achieve food security and alleviate poverty.

Introduction (Cont...) Considering the critical importance of agricultural research, National Agricultural Research System was formed by the Government of Sri Lanka with the establishment of SLCARP in 1987 including existing 12 Research Institutions to carry out Agricultural Research. The major resources required for research are human, physical, and operational funds.

Introduction (Cont...) Operational funds are very important as research activities cannot be carried out without it although other resources are available. At the same time, operational funds should be sufficient and timely available with needed freedom and flexibility to use to achieve expected outputs and contribute to the development of the agricultural sector. In this regard the study of funding mechanism assumes special significance.

Objectives Financial Support The main objective of present study is to understand the agricultural research funding mechanism in Sri Lanka including different funding institutions, proposal evaluation criteria for granting projects, project progress monitoring, terminal report evaluation, output dissemination and impact assessment during the period from 1990 to 2012. Financial Support This project was funded by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), South Asia Office, Delhi.

Methodology In this study, both primary and secondary data were used. Primary data were collected through questionnaires, personnel communications, interviews and discussions with relevant stakeholders. Secondary data were collected from different sources of published documents/reports and internet.

Results This study revealed that agricultural research in Sri Lanka was funded by different sources of funding. It can be categorized in to National, International, Banks, Cess, Internally developed funds The main source is General Treasury as it provides funds to the agricultural research through its annual budget and as special budgets. Each funding organization has different funding programmes.

Results ( Cont...) Trends in total agricultural research allocation Trends in total agricultural research allocation by different funding organizations

Results ( Cont...) Shares in total agricultural research allocation Shares in agricultural research allocation by Other Organizations Thus the Government Treasury plays a very dominant role in funding agricultural research in Sri Lanka.

Trends in Agricultural GDP Results ( Cont...) Trends in Agricultural GDP Agricultural Research Intensity The “Agricultural Research Intensity” has decreased broadly indicating that in terms of real spending (inflation adjusted), Sri Lanka is investing less in agricultural research now than previously. (defined as total public agricultural research spending as a percentage of agricultural GDP) Cost shares

This indicates that essentially very limited funds were available for the research activities. This is because of the annual budget of the General Treasury was mainly used for paying salaries of employees which have drastically increased by government since 2006. The funds provided by NSF, SLCARP and NRC were fully used for the research activities and operational activities including the salaries of casual research assistants, technical assistants and labour. .

Procedures of Proposal evaluation, progress monitoring and Terminal Report evaluation were different from organization to organization with some similarities as well. Regarding the Proposal evaluation, Progress Monitoring, the procedures/methods adopted by SLCARP were relatively better than other funding agencies as evaluation was done by National Committees comprising 12-15 experts in the relevant subject area. Handling of funding was done differently by each funding organization but the procedures/methods adopted by NRC, NSF were relatively better than others as it involved less bureaucracy and red tape along with proper supervision.

Terminal Report evaluation was very much similar in all the funding agencies except General Treasury where regular Terminal Report Evaluation is not carried out. Seminars, publications, extension activities, field days were mainly used for the dissemination of the research outputs. Impact assessment studies have not been carried out by any funding organization during the study period.

General Treasury is the main source of funding. Conclusion General Treasury is the main source of funding. Agricultural Research Intensity is decreasing. Major share of the funds invested by Government Treasury mainly goes for paying salaries The funding by NSF, SCLARP and NRC are critically important though amount is insignificant as it is fully utilized for research activities and increase in marginal productivity of research by translating/ converting fixed expenditure (physical resources and salaries) to research activities and output/impact. Methods of Proposal Evaluation methods, Project Monitoring methods and Terminal Report Evaluation methods different from institution to institution. Impact Assessment should be practiced .

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