As long as the article is talking about why bananas are such a monoculture, let's add the necessary context so we know why we don't grow bananas from seed instead.<p>It's the seeds.<p><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Inside_a_wild-type_banana.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Inside_a_...</a>
Just to add to that, India, perhaps learned from the 1970 famine (see the wiki on Green Revolution). There are more variety of rice today in India, than anyone can count. And people have appreciation for that. I often eat 0.45cm long rice, which is as fat as a worm, as well as 3-4cm long rice, that is cooked not as a delicacy but as a base of other delicacies :)<p>Mangoes are another widely diversified food item. We even have a mildly popular Mango Festival Tradition in different suburbs at the edge of Urban Centers.