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The evolution of family farming cannot be analyzed only from the perspective of production. Since it is also a kinship unit, the family farm reveals social tensions that contribute to the migration of young people, especially for young women. This study presents an analysis of the factors that contribute to this migratory process, considering youth and gender variables. The analysis is based on a participatory diagnosis, multisectoral interviews and surveys in thirty-three communities located in the center of the Ceará State (Northeastern Brazil). The research reveals that the main factor of this migratory process is the lack of appreciation of family farming by the qualified rural youth, who participate little in decision-making. When the analysis of the migration is gender-focused, the invisibility of young women productive and reproductive work stands out as the main driver of migration to urban areas and proves to be greater than for young men. Rural youth migration will shape the rural territory and will probably change the format of family farming. Understanding its factors may help to propose public policies more adapted for family farming.

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.