CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION TO AGRICULTURAL RESERCH IN SRI LANKA

Agricultural Science is one of the fifteen fields receiving support for research by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Since the inception of the research grant scheme in 1970 by the then National Science Council (NSC) and its successolr the Natural Resources, Energy and Science Authority (NARESA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF"), a total of 115 gran ts in t h e field of agricultural science have been awarded at a cost of Rs. 15.9 million in local funds u p to 1997. Of the grants awardedin agricultwe-related fields, the highest h d i n g has been on fiuit crops (26.5%) fullowed by cereals (19.9%), plantation crops (13.1'%), vegetable crops(5.50%), grain legumes (4.4%). tuher crops (4.0%) and export aqicultural crops (2.fi1%). Olher categories of crops l-eceived less than 2% h d i n g . In terms of d~sciplinex, Post-halvest Teclmology, Biotechnology, Genetics Sr. Plant Bi,eeding, Soil Science, Agricultural Endneeling & Machinery andhgronomy have received relatively lligll funding and have respectively accounted for 30.6, 16.4,16.1, 9.0, 6.3 and 4.6 O/n of funds. Of the 115 -ants funded, only 8 (6.9%) were related to animal science.

The research grant scheme of the NSF and the activities connectedthereto have contributed substantially to the promotion of scientific and intellectual activities among agricultural scientists, advancement a n d dissemination of knowledge, development ofhuman nsourceslpostgraduate training, establisllment of professional contacts and reinforcement of research capabilities and laboratory facilities of institutions.Thus the N S F h a s made a singular contribution not only in suppor-ting and advancing agricultural research in the country, but also in strengthening research capabilities a n d laboratory facilities of the NARS Sri Lanka covers an area of 65,611 square kilometers (6.5 million ha) of which about 22,400 square kilometers ( 2.3 million ha) are agricultural lands.Agriculture is still the mainstay of the economy as well as the main source of employment in Sri Lanka.But, the contribution of the agriculture sectlor to GDP has gradually declined from 38% in 1960 to 28% in 1984 and to 18.8%in 1997, showing the diversification of the economy.Similarly the employment in agriculture which accounted for 53% in 1960, declined to 45% in 1980 and to about 38% in 1997.' During the past 30 years or so, the domestic agnculture sector has grown faster than the plantation sector.The paddy sector has grown by 2.3 per cent per annum achieving near self-sufficiency.The subsidiary food crops and minor export crops sub-sectors have grown by 4.4 per cent.During this period, the tea sector has grown by 1.3 per cent per annum, rubber output declined by 0.6 per cent per annurn and coconut Increased by 1.6 per cent per annum.'However, about 75 per cent of' the Sri ~a n k a n population still live in rural areas.Therefore improvement of productivity in the agriculture sector is vital to achieving faster economic growth and raising the living standards of the rural folk in the country.

Agricultural research in Sri Lanka
Agricultural research in Sri Lanka is carried out by 22 jnstitutions and departments coming under eight Ministries' (Table 1).Thus the institutions carrying out agricultural research in Sri Lanka are 'scattered' over many Ministries, rendering co-ordination difficult.As a result, the research activities in the country have been conducted in a very uncoordinated manner resulting in fragmented research with inadequate linkages within the Ministries and between the Ministries and the research institutions.Amajor constraint in the agriculture research system has been the absence of a mechanism for coordinating and consolidating research efforts, identifying national research needs and establishing priorities consistent with the needs.Besides, until recently, research information has not been collected, analyzed and interpreted in a manner that enables i t to reach the levels where decisions are made on priorities and appropriation of These issues are now being addressed by. the Council However, the agricultural researches conducted i n t h e University system a r e still mainly individual-driven with l i t t l e or hardly a n y focus on national priorities.Until recently, research programmes have been concentrated mainly on rlce, tea, rubber and coconut.Research effort on rice has produced tangible results, achieving near self-sufficiency.There have been many noteworthy achievements in research on major agricultural crops, which have been reviewed in detail."7During the last decade or so, the yields of the major agricultural crops have not.been increasing and the productivity has been stagnant.

Contribution of NSF in supporting agricultural research in Sri Lanka
Before the establishment of the National Science Council (NSC) in 1968, there was no institution in the country that provided funds for agricultural research.Thus the staff in the agricultural institutions had to totally depend on the funds rece~ved from the Treasury for agricultural research.The staff of the Faculty ofAgriculture, University of Peradeniya, the only Faculty of Agriculture that existed in the country until 1978, had no source of funding for research.As a result, their research activities had been seriously constrained.
In such circumstances, the establishment of the NSC in 1968, inter n l l ~, ~ to provide funds for research has administered a fillip to co~lduct~iilg agricultural research in the country.lnfbrmatioll on the number of applications received, the number and value of grants awarded In the field of agriculture and animal husbandry by the NSF during the period of 1982 to 1999 is given in Table 2.This field has accounted fbr 17%) of the total app1icatior.sreceived and 10% of the total funds disbursed for research by the NSF during the above period.Due to poor quality of the research proposals received, no research grants were awarded in 1993 and 1994.Recognjzing this issue, the then Steering Committee on Agriculture and Animal husbandry organized a series of seminars for the young scientists and researchers on "Preparation of project proposals and final reports."The highest number of applicatio~ls (j.e.26) has been received in 1958 after which j t has shown a declining trend, and 111 1999, this has reduced to three.This has been in spite of the fact that the strength of research officers and scientists in agriculturerelated fields in the countfry has increased since 1987.Wit11 the advent of the research grant scheme of CARP following its establishment in 1987, agricultural scientists have submitted a large number of research proposals to CARP which exclusively funds agricultural-research that fa11 in line with national priorities.This has resulted in a low number of applications being received by the NSF after 1987.
A sharp increase in the value of grants awarded is evident from 1995 onwards which has been as a result of the NSF receiving more funds for research from the Treasury.For instance, the NSF received a sum of Rs. 4.9 million for research in 1994 which was increased to 21.8 million in 1995 and to Rs. 32.0 million in 1999.Out of 248 proposals received in the field of agriculture and animal husbandry from 1982 to 1999 only 67 proposals, about 27 per cent of the proposals   show the percentage of t.he total co submitted, have been funded.Poor formulation of research proposals, lack of scientific merit, lack of relevance to national priorities, non-submission of revised proposals taking into account the referees' comments etc. have been the major causes for rejection of' research proposals.Since the inception of the research grant scheme in 1970, the NSF has awarded a total of 115 research grants in the field of Agriculture up to 1997, amounting to a total sum of Rs. 15,981,471 (Table 3).

(a) Commodity-wise finding
Breakdown of the NSF-funded research on major categories of crops and livestock dur~ng the period of 1970-1997 is given in Table 3.As evldent therefrom, major funding in terms of the number of grants has been on cereals (la), legumes (15), plantation crops ( l l ) , export agricultural crops (8), vegetables crops (7) and fruit crops ( 6 ) They accounted for 15.7, 13.0, 9.6, 7.0, 6.1 and 5.2 per cent of the total number of grants awarded, respectively.Of the 18 grants on cereals, 16 have been on rice, thus only two grants have been awarded on other cereals.Thus as a single crop, rice has received the hlghest number of grants accounting for 13.9 per cent of the total grants awarded by the NSF up to 1997.The number of grants on other individual crops has been few.
As regards the amount of funds provided, the highest was for fruit crops (26.5%) followed by cereals (19.9%~), plantation crops (13.I%), vegetable crops (5.5%), grain legumes (4.4%), tuber crops (4.0%)), export agricultural crops (2.60/0), nied~cjnal plants (1.3%) and sug?rcane (0.2%)With regard to crops such as tea, rubber, coconut, sugar cane and cashew, t,here are separate research institutes mandated to carrying out relevant research on their production, processing and marketing aspects.Funds for these purposes are provjd.edby the respective institutes, though it may not be adequate.However, when other agricultural crops are concerned, they mainly come under the Department of Agriculture and Department of Export Agriculture where each department has a large number of mandatory crops with the former dealing with over 60.In such situations, these departments may not be able to provide funds for necessary research even on some high priority crops.For example, though jt is claimed that Srl.Lanka is almost, self-sufficient in rice, it has a huge cereal deficit and imports wheat and maize a t a cost of about Rs.10 billion annually, which currently accohnts for about 20% of the total cost ~f fnod imports.But as indicated above, of t,he 18 grants awarded by the NSF on cereals during the period o f 1970 -1997,lG have been 011 rice.Thus there has been hardly any research funding on other cereals such as maize, finger millet etc., which prove very important in import substitution, saving foreign exchange and ensuring food security.Of the 115 grants awarded only 8 ('7%) ha.ve been on livestoclr (Table 3).Given the economic, social and nutritional importance of the livestock sector, the number of research grants in this sector has been disturbingly low.NARS has a tota'l of 116 Ph D degree holders and about 180 Master's degree holders.Tlierefore the Facul.ties of Agriculture in the University system constitute a vast trained human resource base in the agriculture sector of Sri Lanka.The NARS is funded through the Treasury and its total allocatio~l for research exceeds Rs. 80-85 million per year.However, the University staff gets very little funds from the University for research.For instance, the Faculty of Agriculture a t the University of Peraderiiya with a total staff s t ~d n t h of over Values in parenthesis show the pen entage of the total 100 receives about Rs. 500,000 annually for staff research, and the Faculty ofAgriculture a t the University of Rul~una with about 30 staff members gets about Rs. 250,000 per year.This amounts to only about Rs. 5,000-8,000 per head per year which is hardly adequate to do any useful research.Thus NSF has been a very important source of funding for research for the University staff.These grants, besides addressing issues in agriculture, have greatly helped t o enhance the research capabilities, training including post-graduate studies of the University staff and to imporve infrastructure1 laboratory fz-ilities in the Faculties of Agriculture in the country.Agricultural Science IS only one of the fifteen or more fields receiving research funds from the NSF.Funding of agricultural research by the NSF has vaned from 1.5 to 35% of the total funds disbursed during the period of 1982 to 1999 (Table 2 ) .On the other hand, CARP is f u n d ~n g for research only in the agriculture-related fields.Thus, the total value of research grants provided for agriculture during the period of 1990-1998 by the NSF has been Rs.ll,393,757.00as against Rs.178,194,106.00by CARP (Table 6).
Scientists, especially in the Universities/Faculties of Agriculture have been successful in attracting a considerable amount of research funds from foreign sources such as PSTCNSAID, BOSTIDNAS, IDRC, N O W , CIDA, SIDA, IFS of Sweden, SAIZEC etc. Information on the total quantnm of funds so received is not available, but it has undoubtedly been a significant source of funding for agriculture research in the c0untr.y.Though the number of grants thus received mag not be high, the average value of such grants is much higher than t h a t provided by the NSF (Table 7).

Benefits a n d a c h i e v e m e ~~t s of NSF-funded research projects in agriculture a n d animal science
From the foregoing, it was evident that the NSF has funded a total of 115 grants a t a cost of Rs. 15,98 1,470 during the period of1970 to 1997.Of these grants less than G T/r: (hot11 in terrns of number and value) has been in the field of animal husbandry, thus most of the project,^ have been related to agricultural crops, which mainly jncluded fruit crops, cereals, plantation crops, export agricultural crops, and oil crops.Of the 115 grants awarded, all have been completed except 5 which have been withdrawn, or terminated due to reasons such as unsatisfactory progress, techrlical limitations etc.
The success and achievements of a given grant depends on a multitude of factors.Gj.ven the number of grants awarded by the NSF, the nature of issues and problelus addressed, the conlrnodity crop types involved, the large variations in the nlnount and value of the grants'awarded a n d the varying circulnstaices under which they have been carried out, it is not only difficult., but also not filir and sensible t,o categorize them in terms of success or the impact they have made.But on the whole, the grants have been well executed, addressing important research issues in agricult~~re.
However, it should be mentioned, t h a t the ACIAR (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research) project on "Biological control of Sa.lui~~ia" administered, by the NSF has been one of t,he most successful projects and the fi.ndings thereof have led to the control of' Salvillia in water bodies, canals etc., yielding substantial economic and, environmental benefits.In recognition of the noteworthy contribution made by the NSF i n supportping this environmentally important research project and thereby helping resolve some major environmental issues in the country, the NSF received the "Soba Cineru" award from the Sri Lanka Environmental Jou-rnalist Forum (SLEJF) in 1998.
The NSF-funded projects have also contributed to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge, improvement of laboratory/analgtical facilities of the recipient institutions, human resource development/postgraduate training in the country etc. (Table 8).For instance, of the total value of the grants awarded.by the NSF during the period of 1970-97, about 21% has been on equipment, thereby contributing significantly to the enhancement of laboratory facilities of recipient institut,ions.The progress review seminars on ongoing research grants organized by the NSF every year train the researchers in making presentations of their work a t public gatherings and sharing their experience with others.They get an opportunity to publisize and disseminate their findings a t exhibitions participated by the NSF, by way of models, posters, leaflets etc.It should be emphasized that these grants have also contributed in no small measure to promoting scientific thinking and intellectual activity and establishing professibnal contacts among the agricultural scientists in the country.The NSF has also established a merit award scheme in 1986 in order to appreciate and recognize the outstanding research contributions by the scientists, which will motivate the researchers to achieve excellence.Under this scheme, two merit awards have been given in 1986 and 199 1 in the field of Agriculture.111 addition to the postgraduate training provided under the NSF-funded research projects, the contribution by the NSF in terms of technical training has also been noteworthy.For instance, under the NSF-funded research projects i11 agriculture and animal science, about 50 technical and research personnel have been given necessary technical training to date and nearly 100 have been trained under f'oreign-funded research projects administered by the NSF.Besides, their participation in research programmes has helped them acquire new knowledge and slrills relevant to their career development and as a matter of fact, some officers have secured better empl.oymentconsequent to the technical training so received.
The international contacts fund established by the NSF in 1984 with generous funding from Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) has provided travel support to many scientists to make presentations at international symposia, seminars, workshops, conferences etc. and for short-term overseas training.Under the scheme, the NSF has provided travel grants to 65 agricultural scientists during the p e ~i o d of 1995 t o 1999.This scheme, besides enabling local scientists to attend international meetings and training programmes, has helped t.hem to keep abreast of the latest developments and research trends in their respective fields and to establish international contacts.Thus this travel grant scheme has indirectly contributed towards agricultural research through motivating the scientists and enhancing their research capabilities and professional competence.I t is evident from Table 7 and 8 that the number of post-graduates and the publications produced by the foreign-funded projects had far exceeded t h a t produced by t h e NSF-funded research projects.The higher output from the foreign-funded projects may be attributed to relatively higher allowance paid to research assistants, provision of more funds for equipment and consumables, longer project duration, foreign collaboration, frequent and rigorous monitoring etc.In conclusion, the authors wish to make the following recommerldations in order to improve the effectiveness of the NSF research grants scheme, so that the outcome of the projects will have a significant impact to the national development.
(1) Indicate as far as possible, the priority cropc and livestock and ptiority research areas as well as the major issues that need to be addressed when the NSF research grants scheme is advertised.Thus, the research proposals will mainly focus on high priority research concerns, thereby helping the NSF to disburse funds more meaningfully.
(2) Promote inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional research.Of the grants awarded, the vast majority did not involve a multi-disciplinary approach.When multi-disciplinary research is done the value of the grants will be naturally higher, so that the number of grants that can be awarded may be less, b u t the impact would be grater.The Working Committee on Agricultural Science of the NSF may even play a role of facilitator in identifying relevant multi-disciplinary research and relevant institutes, and encourage them to apply for research grants.
(3) Monitor the progress of the grants awarded through periodic visits to the grantees by the members of the Working Committee.This would enable the Committee not only to better assess the progress of the grantees, but also to ascertain the difficulties and problems faced by them, enabling necessary timely int,erverltion (4) Encourage grantees to publish their findings.Though the NSF has funded about 115 agricultural research projects from 1970 t o 1997, according to the available records, they have produced only 09 international papers, 24 papers in local journals and about 25 short communications, amounting to nearly a total of 50.This is grossly inadequate.Hence t h e grantees should be encouraged to publish the results and the NSF journal may give special consideration to research papers resulting from the NSF-funded research projects.
& l -z c ~~~t z / .r a ~ science research in Sri b ~t h for Agricultural Research Policy (CARP) since i t s e s t a b l i s h m e n t i n 1987.
No. of iesearch grants Total number Value of the grants Total value 9j

&
This includes Department ofAgrjculture , Department of Export Agriculture, Tea Research Institute, Rubber Research Institute, Coconut Research Institute, Sugar cane Research Institute, Depaitnlent of Animal Production & Health, Veteiinary Reseal,ch Institute, National Aquatic Resources Research & Development Agency and Forest Department "

Table 1
Directors of research i n s t i t u t i o n s or d e p a r t m e n t s is still mainly concerned with financial and administrative matters and little time is spent on review of research programmes and pri.orities.Poor research infrastructure and inadequacy of operating funds are also major constraints for research.

Table 3 : NSF research grants categorised into commodities during the period of
Breakdown of the NSFfunded.research'grantsawardedduring the period of 1970-1997 in terms of major disciplines, is given in Table4.Both in t.erms of the.
number of grants awarded as well as the level offunding, the highest was in agronomy which acco~nted, for 27% of the grants awarded.Genetics & plant breeding, post-harvest technology, entomology, pathology, agricultural engineering and soil science have been the other major disciplines that received re1ativel.yhigh funding.

Table 4 : NSF research grants categorised into disciplines during
t h e periocl of

Recipient institutions of NSF-funded research grants
The number and value of research grants awarded by the NSF t o the Universities and.National Agricultural Research Sys tern (NARS) fi-om 1970-1997 in agriculture-related fields are given in Table5.Of the total of 115 grants awarded, the The total strength of the academic staff in Faculties of Agriculture in the U~liversity System, including the Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture is about 250, of which 123 have Ph Ds and 53 have Master's degreesa2 On the other hand, the

Table 6 : Relative contributions of the NSP and CARP to funding agricultural research from 1990-1998
' average

Support for agricultural research from sources other than NSF
a substantial amount of funds for need-based and problem-focused agricultural research iri the country.Though the research funding of the NSF has mainly gone to the Faculties ofAg-riculture, the QUIP funhng has been mainly in the NARS.Of the total research funding by CARP from 1990-98, over 80% has been in the NARS whereas the Faculties of Agriculture have received less than 2 0 %