Why we need to revive food diversity urgently

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Editor's note: India is a land of diversity. It has always been, for thousands of years. The culture, traditions, language and food change from one region to the next, sometimes in just a few kilometres. This diversity has defined India over centuries and helped it overcome external and internal threats and stand tall amid adversity. And it is this diversity that is under threat today, but I digress. Nowhere is this diversity more pronounced than in the food habits across different regions. And once we move beyond the culinary misadventures of the big cities, we realize how essential this diversity on the plate is to people in the countryside and how integral it has been to their sense of identity and well-being over centuries. But modern agricultural practices are taking us away from food diversity, a trend that has worsened in the last five or six decades. We are witnessing a sharp decline in the number of crops and crop varieties grown commercially. According to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), “The last two centuries have seen an alarming …