Socio Economics and Planning Centre is one of the major centers of the Department of Agriculture (DOA),Sri Lanka. Originally in the late 1960's it had been established as a small unit under the Extension Division of the DOA and it was announced as an independent body of the DOA as the division of Agricultural Economics in early 1970's'.

        In 1976 it was renamed the Division of Agricultural Economics, Farm Management and Statistics under the leadership of a Senior Agricultural Economist, adding several other responsibilities. It was further renamed as the Division of Agricultural Economics in view of the importance of the activities conducted by this division.

     In 1984, again renaming the Division was taken place of Agricultural Economics and Planning. Under the restructuring of the Department of Agriculture on 1994, the Centre got the present name of Socio Economics and Planning Centre (SEPC) headed by a Director. In 1998, one of the major units of the Department, the Progress Monitoring and Evaluation Unit (PEMU) managed by a senior Deputy Director was combined to the Centre.

     In 2004, Socio-economic research and policy analysis concentrated on focusing changes resulting from global trade liberalization, adoption of modern technology, post-harvest and processing, resource utilization and environment, agricultural marketing and food security issues. The Centre contributed to streamlining various programs of the DOA by identifying and prioritizing research agenda and guiding policy makers in developing strategies for solving problems concerning food shortage, especially in the context of recent changes in whether pattern and global and domestic economic changes. The Centre investigated main socio-economic problems and policies related to resource utilization in the food crops sector, and the findings are presented in this report. In addition, a comprehensive program to build a database on cost and returns of all major food crops on district and seasonal basis was continued.