'Natural Viagra' is about to run out

For decades, a rare fungus called 'natural Viagra' has been a significant source of income for poor Nepalese people living at the foot of the Himalayas. However, the fungus that grows only at 3,500m is increasingly rare, and is in danger of disappearing.

Men, women, and children every year go to the mountains to find Yarsagumba, the fungus that grows on the dead caterpillars. Good quality mushrooms are even sold for thousands of dollars per kilogram.

Known as Yartsa gunbu in Tibet (meaning 'Cordyceps'), the parasitic fungus kills and then lives on the ghost moth falling to the ground.

Although there is no scientific evidence, Tibet's Chinese medicine and medicine regard this small mushroom as a tonic to enhance vitality.

Yarsagumba mushroom started commercial exploitation 30 years ago. Tshewang Lama, a Nepali resident living in a village near the Tibetan border, said he witnessed a number of Chinese military officers in a nearby Tibetan village using the yarsagumba mushroom to drink to increase immunity. , cure tuberculosis, exhaustion, paralysis and cancer.

Mr. Lama has used this fungus to treat sleep disorders and some other health problems. Since then, he has become one of the first mushroom collectors.

Yarsagumba mushrooms are light yellow, like a dried chili

The demand for mushrooms in China is increasing sharply. This year, people were paid $ 6 for a mushroom just as big as a dried chilli - the price was twice as high as last year. In Kathmandu, high quality mushrooms can sell for $ 31,000 / kg.

When 70% of the local people's income comes from selling mushrooms, the livelihood of mushroom harvesters is becoming precarious as the number of mushrooms is declining sharply.

Every May and June every year, thousands of Nepalese people travel by car or cow to high prairie areas to search for tiny mushrooms sprouting from the ground.

According to Uttam Babu Shrestha, a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, 10 years ago, people here earned a few kilograms on each such trip, but now they only collect negligible quantities. After a mushroom fall, some people come back with a pinch of mushrooms just fit in a bag of bim.

'Excessive harvesting, harvesting before the fungus matures, destroying the habitat, and possibly climate change is the cause of the decline in the number of mushrooms ,' Shrestha said.

'This year is the worst year. Many people find mushrooms in Dolpa (area near the Tibetan border) empty-handed. If this situation continues, the mushroom is about to go extinct , " said Shrestha.

This area is where every year up to 50,000 people find mushrooms. Last year, people harvested 1,170kg.

Shrestha said that trash is left behind, indiscriminate urination and felling of trees for cooking and heating changes the environment in the hills, where Yarsagumba mushrooms grow.

Officials said the government earned $ 132,000 from mushroom exports in 2011. This figure may be much lower than reality, as villagers often sell directly to Tibet without going through official statistics agencies. .

Filmmaker Dipendra Bhandari, who made the documentary 'Journey to Yarsa' talks about mushroom collection, saying that children in remote villages often follow their parents to pick mushrooms when they are off school. in 2 months.

According to Bhandari, this is quite dangerous because mushroom collectors may be sick or die on a long journey. In 2009, 7 people harvested mushrooms to be killed when fighting over mushrooms with local people in western Nepal. Two years earlier, at least 16 people did not survive when the blizzard collapsed buried their tents.

Lama said that the government should regulate trade and exploitation and promote the activities of local institutions to protect the lives and benefits of mushroom harvesters.