The basic powers assigned to this Authority which was established in 1978 as National Agricultural Crop Diversification and settlement Authority as per the State Agricultural Corporation Act No 11 of 1978 are as follows.

1.    Agricultural Diversification Settlement Development and Management of catchment areas.

2.    Conservation of environment and water resources in order to obtain the maximum productivity of the lands vested by the Authority.

3.    Produce process and the sale of agricultural produce.

4.    Supply of equipment and machinery maintains and operate them in agricultural diversification and settlement development.

The main development target of the Authority was to develop 4000 acres distributed among settlers owned by the Land Reformed Commission by covering the sensitive environmental zones belonged to the surrounding areas of the Mahaveli river and the vast catchment areas and the catchment areas in the Maoya area of Kandy and Kegalle respectively by using the powers assigned. World Bank and the World Food organization had provided the funds for this task.

The conservation and the development of the Lands which had become marginal lands due to soil erosion and degradation as a result of the plantation economy under the colonial era were carried out by the Authority. Accordingly it was able to convert 2000 targeted acres as productive agricultural units by minimizing the environmental imbalance experienced in the sensitive environmental areas in the Central hills past. After fulfilling the targets during the project period, it was recommended to extend the project areas and its performance further after conducting a feasibility study in 1990.

Accordingly the official name of the authority was amended as Sri Lanka settlement Development Central Agency by the extra ordinary Gazette notification no 15 of 687 in 1991 and the project area was extended up to Kandy, Kegalle, Matale, Nuwaraeliya, Ratnapura and Badulla Districts. The functions of the Authority are being done on the allocations provided by the Treasury after the termination of the World Food funds.

Further the allocations are provided as per the implementation plan submitted by the Authority annually on the annual allocation limits of the Treasury.