Huge knowledge gaps on rural issues due to lack of data, research work: experts
There are huge knowledge gaps on rural issues including rural transformations and agriculture potentials due to a lack of updated data and adequate research works, experts said at a webinar yesterday.
These gaps should be reduced now to make the rural sector the future growth driver of the country, they said while addressing the event on "How rural is rural Bangladesh?" organised by Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC).
PPRC Executive Chairman Hossain Zillur Rahman said there are many untapped areas in this sector that should be focused on.
He said there is a big knowledge gap on rural transformation. "I think it is very important for the researchers to come back to restudy on rural dynamics," he said.
"We need new analysis to determine the emerging middle class in the rural area."
Besides, studies should be conducted on multiple other areas, including determining the quality and contributions of rural infrastructure, and potentials of agriculture, Rahman said.
He said there is also an issue of the interface of political and economic power in rural areas. The private sector is joining the end to this whole rural transformation as a new actor, he said.
Rahman said the studies should also be focused on how is the private sector doing and what are their dynamics. "I think understanding these issues is very essential."
He said the farmers in India have a different connotation and presence. "Even they have a big presence in politics. But there is no affiliation of farmers in our country for the contemporary period."
"So there is an issue regarding the socio-political-economic category. I think it is an important issue of the knowledge gap," he said.
Rahman said there is huge untapped potential in the rural context. "To tap the resources, we have to connect. Scientists, policymakers and investors –all have to come together."
"We need to rethink rural sector as the future growth driver. It seems this is the time to rethink the issue. It (rethinking) may be happening at the field level but not at the policy level as much yet," he said.
Highlighting multiple other issues those need to be addressed, he said there is a lot of talks but the dots are not being connected. "I think we should have a collective agenda to get the potential of the rural through appropriate research and articulation."
Taking part in the discussion, Geof Wood, professor emeritus of International Development at the University of Bath in the UK, said he completely agreed that there has a serious knowledge gap on different rural issues.
MA Sattar Mandal, professor emeritus of Bangladesh Agricultural University; Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, chairman and chief executive office of Pran-RFL Group; Sanjida Akter of Dhaka University, and Abul Hossain of Green University also spoke as panel discussants.
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