The  study  attempts  to  investigate  what  are  the  sources  of  deprivations  that  prevent  the expansion  of  the freedoms of family farmers in  the  semiaridof  northern Minas  Gerais and whether the presence of the Rural Productive Microcredit (Agroamigo) and of the Training and Mobilization  Programs  for  Coexistence  with  Semiarid  Conditions:  One  Million  Rural Cisterns (P1MC/P1  +2)  has  some  efficacy  in  reducing  the  levels of  deprivation  of  these farmers. The central hypothesis guiding the itinerary of this paper tries to confirm that policies and programs for the semiarid region of the northern Minas Gerais,even when conjoined, are insufficient to cause major positive effects on family farming. What is also observed is the lack, on the part of the farmers, of a contextualized trainingfor living in the semiarid through the  adoption  of appropriate technologies  and  strategies  for  coping  with  drought.  The  study demanded  as  theoretical supports  the  critical  thinking  of  the  semiarid  and  the  capabilities approach  in  order to explain the  reality  of  the empirical basis. Therefore,  92  samples were collected  in  six  rural communities  in  the  municipality  of  Januária  /  MG,  whose  data  were operationalized and subsequently analyzed using the capabilities approach. The construction of the Index of Freedom of the Family Farmer in the semiarid northern Minas Gerais (ILAFSAM)  supported  measuring  the levels  of  deprivation  identified  in  the  groups  of  each instrumental freedom. The  results revealed a  very low  (0.387) ILAF-SAM  for the  freedom "Contextualized  training  and coexistence with  the  semiarid  northern  Minas  Gerais", characterizing an extremely high level of deprivation of freedom for farmers to live with the phenomenon  of  drought. Social  opportunities  (ILAF-SAM =  0.599),  the  economic possibilities  (ILAF-SAM  =  0.598),  protective  security  (ILAF  =  0.502) and  guarantees  of transparency (ILAF-SAM = 0.640), along with the previous one, composed  the main sources of  deprivation  that  curtail  farmers  from  extending  their  freedoms.We  also observed  weak connections  between  these  programs  for  living  with  the  semiarid  and  the Rural  Productive Microcredit with the aim of reducing the sources of deprivations for family farmers.Even so, the  results  in  some  isolated  variables  were  relevant  in  order  to complement this  study  and open new perspectives for research in the semiarid northern Minas Gerais.