Today, and over thousands of years in the past, tropical forests have produced abundant foods. Many of the foods which are enjoyed all over the developed world - bananas, cashew nuts, coffee, maize, mangoes, papayas, potatoes, rice and tomatoes - all originated in tropical rainforests. Some plants are harvested directly from the rainforest. In Amazonia, [P 004 & P020 / Brazil nuts] and cocoa beans are gathered by forest dwellers and exported commercially.
There is scope for much more gathering of rainforest plants on a sustainable basis for human consumption. Many food crops have been introduced to other parts of the world where they are grown commercially on plantations. Their wild forms still grow in the rainforest and are an extremely important source of new genes for [L3 707 / biogenetical engineering]. This helps to produce more disease resistant crops with higher yields, vital in today's world of exploding population growth.
