Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute HARTI

Vision: Be the leader for generating and disseminating knowledge for sustainable agrarian and rural development.
Mission: To strengthen agrarian and rural sector through conducting research and training activities.
Goals: … (about /Overview 1/2).

english Homepage;
Divisions; Publications; Newsletter; Facilities; Hot Topics; many downloads in english: Retail Market Situation, … and many more … ;
many downloads in Sinhala: Retail Market at a Glance, … and many more … ;
Address: Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute HARTI, 114, Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo 07, Sri Lanka;
Contacts.

To be a centre of excellence in socio-economic research into agrarian questions;
To liaise closely with planners and policy makers in the government, business and research communities;
To make policy process more effective through knowledge generation and timely dissemination;
To keep the public informed by providing independent assessments on national policy issues;
To strengthen the capacity for socio-economic policy analysis by investing in the capacities of its staff and the institute’s knowledge base;
To increase the capacity of rural development stakeholders through training;

Objectives

Timely dissemination of market information to policy makers, farmers and traders;
Identification of agrarian policy perspectives;
Research planning-priority setting in agrarian issues;
Building relationships with public/private sector organizations, universities and regional & international research institutes/agencies;
Widen and strengthen the scope of agrarian database;
Acquiring the required skills individually and collectively; and
Having a committed, competent and contented team of employees.

Strategies:

Strengthen the Research and Training Committee (RTC);
Agree on thematic areas;
Ensure uniformity of different types of publications – layout, cover page, pagination, fonts and styles;
Improve literature review in preparation of research proposal;
Arrange external review after peer review of all research reports before publication;
Assign the responsibility for each issue of the institute journal to the respective Division;
Obtain donor assistance to secure the services of a professional editor;
Increase research outputs in local languages;
Recruit researchers at senior level;
Explore possibility of getting research expatriates through the UNDP;
Establish linkages with universities;
Disseminate research findings at the end of the year colloquium;
Introduce measurable performance based evaluation system;
Organize faculty retreat;
Improve the quality of the printing of the publications.

Activities:

Collecting, analyzing and disseminating of market information;
Investigation on marketing issues;
Analysis on consumer behaviour;
Evaluation of government development programmes;
Impact assessment of agrarian and rural development projects and programmes;
Conducting surveys to establish bechmark conditions;
Analysis of agricultural policies;
Conducting feasibility studies on proposed development projects;
Researching on problems related to the input supply and support services;
Conducting research on water resources management and irrigated agriculture;
Studying environmental and natural resources management issues;
Undertaking research on irigation institutions and institutional policies;
Organizing training programmes/workshops/seminars based on national priorities;
Meeting outside demands by undertaking training programmes on specific subjects;
Providing services of experts to the training programmes organized by outside agencies;
Improvement of library facilities and audio visual resources;
Strengthening use of information technology for dissemination of research findings;
Development of the skills and competencies of the staff; and
Recruitment, evaluation, rotation and promotion of personnel based on competency requirements and individual capabilities;

Organizational Structure: … (full text about).