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Rice is grown mainly in New South Wales in Australia and in some small areas in Fiji and Papua New Guinea in 1997. It is the staple food of the population in Fiji and an important food of the population in Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, and Vanutu.
More than 95 percent of the Oceanian rice production come from Australia, where rice was grown only under irrigation. The Australian rice yields are among the world highest yields. Most of rice varieties planted in Australia belong to japonica sub-species. In Fiji and Papua New Guinea, the indica sub-sepcies is dominant and rice is grown under varying ecological conditions and rice yields are still low.
The growth rate of rice production in Oceania has been the highest in the world. Rice production in the continent increased from less than 200,000 tons in 1961 to about 1,600,000 tons in 1997. From 1961 to 1985, the increase in rice production were due to both the improvement in productivity and the area expansion. However, since 1986, the improvement in productivity has been the main factor contributing to production increase. The harvested rice area has changed little after 1985.
Limited supply of irrigation water and high production costs are factors affecting the sustainable rice production in Australia.
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