LONG-TERM INVESTMENT AND CAPACITY PATTERNS IN PUBLIC AGRICULTURAL R&D

ri Lanka has faced enormous challenges in recent years. A 26-year-long civil war has scarred the nation, and a tsunami in 2004 left tens of thousands of its people dead, injured, or homeless. Despite these catastrophes, Sri Lanka’s economy grew at a yearly rate of almost 6 percent during 2000-2010 (World Bank 2012). In 2010, agriculture accounted for 13 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). However, the actual contribution of agriculture to the overall economy is much higher, due to the sector’s close linkages with the food industry. For this reason, it could be argued that oicial agricultural GDP (AgGDP) igures fail to fully capture the importance of the agricultural sector to the national economy. Investment in public agricultural research and development (R&D) dropped by one-third from 1.9 billion Sri Lankan rupees, or 54.9 million PPP dollars in 2000, to 1.3 billion rupees or 37.5 million PPP dollar