Research Target, Conceptual Framework, Hypotheses and Methodology

The study area consists of resource-poor farming households suffering due to poverty and social inequality. Agricultural farming is characterized by rice-based cropping system with small and fragmented land. Among the farming households, the major proportion (91.70%) belongs to the smallholder category (0.05–2.49 acres), while 26.13% of the non-farming households used to work as agricultural labor on a daily wage basis in the neighboring farms. Due to patriarchal social structure women have limited access to livelihood assets and opportunities. Women are mostly confined within the households due to traditional gender norms and rules. The conceptual framework of this study was constructed to assess the role of National Agricultural Technology Program (NATP) for sustainable socio-economic development through farmers’ capacity-building, gender-inclusive entrepreneurship and economic empowerment. To fulfill the research purpose the following hypotheses were set for verification: “The institutional policies of NATP through GO-NGO interventions have impacts on the accumulation of human capital, and social capital bringing the outcomes of farmers’ capacity-building and increasing livelihood conditions in Bangladesh (H1)”. “Common interest group (CIG) approach is effective to bring socio-cultural changes (gender equality, and economic empowerment) through entrepreneurship development for sustainable socio-economic development in Bangladesh (H2)”. For hypotheses verification, mixed methods research combining quantitative (Structural equation modeling) and qualitative (Trajectory equifinality modeling) methods were introduced through structured questionnaire survey and case studies targeting farm households in the study area.