Biodiversity, then and now

In response to my post about the visit to Stacia and Kristof's farm, I received the question, “What happened in Malawi to get people cut off from their native plants?” Here is Stacia's response:

There have been many events that have eroded indigenous knowledge, and Malawi is not the only culture that has faced this challenge. The world has narrowed its diet considerably in the past 80 or so years since we have been taken over by conventional agriculture, mass-processing, mass-distribution, extensive advertising, increased commercialism, changes in the work force, lifestyles, and other cultural changes.

For Malawi, the main events seems to be colonialism encouraging the growing and use of foods known to the colonialists and the dictator Dr. Banda continuing on the same track. Reports are that more than 'encouragement' took place when it came to maize; people were forced to change to maize and there were dire consequences if they didn't follow orders. The colonial-based schools introduced a curriculum based on western methods of growing food which replaced the traditional education of learning local plants and animals. For more than 100 years, everything "local" was looked down upon as something for "poor" and "backward" people. The mentality was widespread in every sector (such as health, education, agriculture, economics, etc.). Even today, government programmes focus their work on western ideas and methods - although it is now changing as people are realizing the agricultural and nutritional benefits of the local plants. They are easier to grow, they take little input and effort, they withstand local insects and weather patterns, and they generally are more nutrient-dense foods.