A Study on Evidence from Indigenous Market Systems - Empowering Tribal Women through Agricultural Entrepreneurship

The present paper explores the way agricultural entrepreneurship is beneficial to the tribal women paying a particular attention to the mediating factor that is native market system. The research design adopted in the study is quantitative explanatory research based on primary data collected in 200 tribal women who were engaged in agricultural work and other related entrepreneurial activities in tribal districts of Alluri Sitarama Raju and Manyam-Parvathipuram in Andhra Pradesh. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to determine the direct and indirect relationship between agricultural entrepreneurship, indigenous market systems and the economic empowerment using SmartPLS 4. According to the result, agricultural entrepreneurship is notable and has beneficial economic empowerment of tribal women in the form of improved income, financial autonomy, savings, and decision making authority. In addition, the contribution of the indigenous market systems such as the local haats, the traditional networks of trade in mediating this correlation is larger, which strengthens the transition of the entrepreneurial activities into a reality of economic outcomes by the tribal women. The null hypothesis denial is a confirmation that the process of improving both entrepreneurial and indigenous market access abilities is essential in the pursuit of sustainable and inclusive economic empowerment of tribal women. The paper provides valuable policy lessons in the development of integrated interventions based on entrepreneurship and market in the tribal areas.