The Department of Agricultural Economics and Business Management was established in 2003, by re-naming the Department of Agricultural Economics together with the curriculum reforms. The Department offers a comprehensive module of courses for the undergraduates in all aspects of Agricultural Economics and Business Management. The compulsory courses offered by the Department during the programme includes principles of economics, development economics. Agricultural marketing, business creation and management, applied agribusiness, project analysis, macro- and micro- economics, marketing management, resource and environmental economics, quantitative techniques in business and economics, business psychology, research methods for business and economics. In addition, a wide variety of optional courses related to applied economics and business management are offered during the advanced programme. Through the years it has shown a success in many fields such as academic work, research, consultancies etc. the academic staff of the department is also actively engaged in postgraduate teaching, research and advisory work.

Consultation and evaluation activities are carried out by individual and team members of the academic staff who have a broad background of experience and training. The members serve as consultants in studies on irrigation, integrated rural development, tree crop etc. for various ministries of the government and international organizations. These studies contribute to the improvement of the national and international development programmes. In addition to these, numerous workshops are organized and presented by the Department through the sponsorship of local and state organizations and agencies.

The research programme of the Department is directly concerned with the socio-economic problems of agricultural development. Research activities centre around: Small holder agriculture and food systems; Agricultural Development; Farm management; Farming system; Agricultural systems. Some of the above activities are pursued in collaboration with other Departments in the University of Peradeniya, local government institutions and foreign universities. The computer unit is one of the facilities available in the Department which helps immensely in carrying out academic, research and outreach programmes undertaken by the Department. Academic staff members of the Department have the required experience and education which provides the opportunity for students to gather more knowledge about the field of Agricultural Economics and Business Management. The department also offers postgraduate degree programmes in Business Administration (M.B.A., D.B.A), Agricultural Economics (M.Sc., M.Phil., Ph.D.), Natural Resources Management (M.Sc.), Environmental Economics (M.Sc.) through the Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture.