Everyday agrarian labor as physical activity: gender, health, and community cohesion in rural Indonesia

Introduction: Everyday agrarian labor was one of the most important forms of physical activity in rural Indonesia, shaping livelihood strategies and influencing health and well-being. Unlike structured exercise, farming work emerged as a continuous and demanding practice embedded in daily survival. Objective: The study aimed to reframe smallholder farming as both an economic practice and a sustained form of physical exertion, with particular attention to its implications for health outcomes, gendered workload, and community cohesion. Methodology: A scoping review design was employed to synthesize multidisciplinary literature published between 2005 and 2025. Sources were drawn from peer-reviewed journals, institutional reports, and local publications. Data were systematically coded and analyzed thematically using NVivo software, with attention to health, gender, and cultural dimensions. Results: The review showed that women farmers carried a double burden, combining agricultural labor with domestic responsibilities, leading to chronic fatigue and musculoskeletal problems. Men were mainly associated with strenuous field tasks and economic insecurity. Cultural practices such as rituals, planting ceremonies, and harvest festivals were identified as collective forms of physical activity that reinforced solidarity and tradition. Community cooperation, especially through sustained intergenerational knowledge transfer and strengthened resilience. Discussion: Findings confirmed that agrarian labor functioned both as a risk factor for physical strain and a medium for cultural reproduction. These results aligned with global studies but highlighted Indonesia’s specific gender and cultural contexts. Conclusions: Agrarian labor should be recognized as a complex form of physical activity that simultaneously generates health risks and fosters cultural identity, solidarity, and resilience.