One of the biggest obstacles to research in Bangladesh is the lack of adequate, accurate and up-to-date data. To help close that gap, North South University has joined the Shykh Seraj Initiative's data-bank programme, Channel i Online reported in a video report on 20 September.

The aim is simple: to put reliable data in researchers' hands. Under the arrangement, the university's researchers in agriculture and the social sciences will be able to work with accurate data, the report said.

Few fields depend on data as much as agricultural research. Without current, verified figures on crop output, market prices, weather or farm incomes, research findings drift away from what is actually happening in the field. Access to accurate field data would give the university's researchers a firmer footing for work on the problems farmers face.

The Shykh Seraj Initiative is the organisation named after the agricultural development journalist Shykh Seraj and works on agriculture, food, farmer empowerment, research and innovation. North South University is a private university in Dhaka. Their link-up is an attempt to build a shared source of data for agricultural and social research.

For farmers, agribusinesses and policymakers, the significance is that the more research rests on data, the more grounded its answers to field problems become. The report did not say what kinds of data the bank will hold, who will collect it or when researchers will be able to use it.

Report by Mostofa Mallick, Channel i. Source: Channel i Online.