Economy of Japan
The Japanese agricultural sector accounts for about 1.4% of the total country's GDP. Only 12% of Japan's land is suitable for cultivation. Due to this lack of arable land, a system of terraces is used to farm in small areas. This results in one of the world's highest levels of crop yields per unit area, with an overall agricultural self-sufficiency rate of about 50% on fewer than 56,000 km² (14 million acres) cultivated.
Organic farming by country
This region includes Australia, New Zealand, and island states like Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu. Altogether, there are 7'222 producers, managing almost 12.1 million hectares. This constitutes 2.6 percent of the agricultural land in the area and 38 percent of the world’s organic land. Ninety-nine percent of the organically managed land in the region is in Australia (12 million hectares, 97 percent extensive grazing land), followed by New Zealand (65’000 hectares) and Vanuatu (8'996 hectares). The highest shares of all agricultural land are in Vanuatu (6.1 percent), Samoa (5.5 percent) and the Solomon Islands (3.1 percent). Growth in the organic industry in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands has been strongly influenced by rapidly growing overseas demand; domestic markets are, however, growing. In New Zealand, a key issue is lack of production to meet growing demand.