Situação juvenil e projetos profissionais de jovens agricultores familiares no Recôncavo da Bahia

The article presents an analysis of the juvenile situation among family farmers of the Bahian Reconcavo region (Brazil), seeking to explain the professional aims formulated by these young people. As young family farmers represent a specific social category due to socialization in family agricultural work, the study highlights the social situation of these young people, their disposition regarding generational succession end the possibilities of social reproduction of the family farming labor force. The study was based on an extensive and representative survey of the youthful population aged 15 to 29 years old employed in this activity and on an analytical model of youth situation structured along four thematic axes: a) material conditions; b) processes of socialization; c) social representations; and d) aims of youth. Both descriptive and multiple correspondence analyses were carried out. The results indicate that in the case studied the situation of youth in family farming is marked by low material autonomy even among young adults, by socializing practices in the processes of family agricultural work and unequal formal education between gender and age groups. It was concluded that these young people possess a strong homogeneity of common destiny in rupture with family agricultural work, among other factors, because this activity does not guarantee their material autonomy.