Rural territory in movement: youth, gender and family agriculture in the semiarid region of northeast Brazil

The migration of small farmers from the semi-arid Northeast to the urban area is a recurring phenomenon in Brazil and aggravated by prolonged periods of drought and in families with socioeconomic vulnerabilities. Even with the advance of proactive public policies aimed at improving small farmers, such as improving the accessibility of water resources, fragilities persist. For silently and continuously, the migration of the sons and daughters of family farmers has revealed new challenges, especially when led by women. This article aims to analyse the factors that contribute to the mobility process of young people, sons and daughters of family farmers, according to gender issues. The research used the method of the Participatory Rapid Diagnosis and the construction of indicators to understand the repulsion factors that exist in the socioeconomic unit of small farmers and in the territory, at communities in the semi-arid region of Ceará State. Through the application of a semi-structured questionnaire on 214 young people enrolled in a high school in rural area of Quixeramobim municipality in the state of Ceará, Brazil, it was found that migration is desired by 80.43% of young women and 73.77% of young men. The factors of repulsion, in small farmers, are differentiated according to gender. This reveals gender inequalities, the invisibility of women's reproductive work, their absence from decision-making to property management, and many times they are denied the right to inherit land. Family farming brings in itself importance of agricultural production, but it also reveals social reproduction with the complexity of power relations between family members, who are not only labour force but also relatives