Around this time in the previous years, residents of Karnali province would be in the highlands collecting yarshagumba (caterpillar-fungus or Cordyceps sinensis). Their houses back in the villages would be padlocked. Even schools would be closed, and teachers and children together pick this high-value Himalayan herb.
But this year the government has not allowed locals to pick this symbiotic larva-fungus owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. The time between the first week of May and the first week of July is considered the best season to hunt for this treasured herb that is famously used as an aphrodisiac and neural stimulant. It has other medicinal benefits as well.
Many locals who ran their households from this trade are now facing a livelihood crisis. “I relied on yarshagumba to cover my household expenses,” says Mun Bahadur Nepali of Bareykot Rural Municipality-3 of Jajarkot. “As I don’t have a farm of my own, how do I look after my kids now?”
Residents of Dolpa, Mugu, Jajarkot, Jumla, Humla, and Rukum sell yarshagumba, often regarded as ‘mountain jewel’, to domestic traders who charter helicopters to get the delivery. They in turn export it to China, Hong Kong, and India at significant mark-ups.
This time, the federal government is holding off permission for the locals due to coronavirus fears. On June 7, the provincial government had written to the federal government seeking permission, as the high Himalayan areas are less affected by the pandemic. The federal government declined.
Lives at stake
Local families are now worried. “Our ‘jewel’ is lost in the highlands. And I don’t have any other job,” rues Indra Bahadur Bitalu of Thuli Bheri Municipality of Dolpa. “How am I to look after my six-member family now?” He used to earn about Rs 200,000 per season picking the larva-fungus.
Chhiring Tamang from Mugumakarmarong-8 of Mugu district says his major income source was yarshagumba too. “Due to corona, we couldn’t go to pick yarsha. If the government does not help us, we will die of hunger.” Such is also the condition of Chyawa Tamang, who also earned Rs 200,000 this season last year.
Pushpa Basnet of Bareykot Rural Municipality-4 of Jajarkot, an undergraduate at a local college, has also been reliant on this income for her studies since her school days. “I made around Rs 50,000 each season in the previous years. That was my money for studies, which is now gone,” she laments. Raju Nepali, a grade 11 student from Limsa-11, has similar concerns.
The yarshagumba collected from Karnali is mostly exported. According to Prem Bohora, a yarsha trader, the annual yarsha business amounts to over Rs 1 billion. A piece of the fungus is sold anywhere between Rs 500 to Rs 2,000. A kilogram of it would sell for Rs 1.5 million. From Jajarkot district alone, traders would make Rs 100 million annually. On an average, about two quintals of this medicinal herb is exported every year, according to the data provided by the Division Forest Office.
With the ban, the government has lost millions in revenue. Traders pay export duties, and the locals too pay taxes. Revenue losses in Dolpa district alone are estimated at Rs 50 million. Mugumakarmarong Rural Municipality of Mugu had earned Rs 99 million in yarshagumba revenues last year. It was expecting to raise Rs 100 million this year.
