Abstract
The agricultural tractor fills an important role in the freight haulage sector of the Sri Lanka economy. While some machines have been acquired by operators to use exclusively for this purpose, others are employed in this role only when not needed for soil cultivation. The report describes the geographical distribution of ownership, the scale of employment of tractors in this role and shows that before November 1977 road haulage was a profitable business for the owners of machines. After this date when the import of duty was substantially increased the report explains that the position was changed with owners of new machines being unlikely to cover their capital and running costs from revenue. (Author/publisher)