The University of Fort Hare’s Agricultural and Rural Development Research Institute (ARDRI) was founded in 1977 in order to focus research on the economic needs of Eastern Cape’s rural communities. ARDRI remains committed to improving the quality of life of rural people by conducting research with the potential to promote rural development. The present strategy for seeking to accomplish this is to conduct a wide range of research, participate in research and policy discussion networks, and interface between the expertise and knowledge available at the University on the one hand and the development needs of rural people on the other. ARDRI is part of the Faculty of Science and Agriculture, where it has especially close ties to the three agriculture-focused departments, namely the Department of Livestock and Pasture Science, the Department of Agronomy, and the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension.