A tropical mold has forced maize growers in the northeastern Honduran department of Olancho to replace that crop with soy, vice-minister of agriculture José María Ordóñez, told Tierramérica. Honduran authorities asked the Mexico-based International Center for Improved Maize and Wheat (CIMMYT) to conduct a study of the mold, which led to the recommendation of soy cultivation in order to decontaminate the soil and break the plant disease cycle.

The mold causes early maturity in maize plans, which then dry up. The plants that do survive produce a small, opaque, yellow grain.

CIMMYT says that soy is resistant to the pest and its cultivation should be relatively easy in the Olancho area, where maize is the principal food.