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| Yarsagumba |
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| A villager with hand full of Yarsagumba |
Yarsagumba is the most valuable herb of the Himalayas. It grows only at altitudes above 3,500 meters (11,483 feet) in the Himalayan
region of Nepal. It is actually a combination of a caterpillar and a rare fungus. Yarsagumba, commonly known as "summer plant, winter insect" has two phases during its life cycle. During winter, it is simply a caterpillar of a moth that lives underground but before the rainy season begins, the larvae gets infected by the spores of Cordyceps (fungus) which eventually gets into the body of the caterpillar
that grows out through its head and drains all the energy from
the caterpillar ultimately mummifying it. In springtime, after the snow melts, mushrooms emerge from the ground, always growing out of forehead of the caterpillar and which are collected by the nearby villagers risking their lives.
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| Viagra made from Yarsagumba |
Yarsagumba is a powerful medicine. It is believed to cure sexual impotency- Himalayan Viagra. It is mainly used in medicinal tonics as a source of energy. Many people cook Yarsagumba with chicken soup or consume it as powder with water, milk or tea for benefits like: increasing stamina, strengthen kidneys (yang tonic) and lungs (yin tonic), strong afrodisiac, increasing libido of both men and women, against excessive tiredness and fatigue, strengthening of health and prevention of maladies, rejuvenating effects, for increasing energy
levels, endurance, size of muscles and strength of the body, removes
prana diseases, does not raise the phlegm, increases semen, decreases stress and evokes feelings of calmness and sense of balance, and many more. The medicinal benefits of this magnificent herb are unlimited.
Every year during May and June, thousands of villagers
from remote areas risking their own lives head for high mountains
to collect Yarsagumba. It is estimated that one villager can earn
up to Rs. 2,500 i.e, around $35 a day by collecting Yarsagumba
which is beyond the monthly salary of many Nepalese households.
Dolpa – a remote district in western Nepal with high steep
valleys and dry climate is one of the foremost areas for collecting Yarsagumba. Almost 50% of the annual supply of Yarsagumba comes
from Dolpa alone. Here, not only the adults but school goers also
take unofficial holidays in search of the gold rush. Collection
of Yarsagumba was illegal until 2001 but following its popularity
and the lobbying from various organizations, the Government lifted
the ban but imposed a royalty rate of Rs. 20,000 (US$ 280) per kilogram
(2.2lbs). One kilo of Yarsagumba that costs about Rs. 315 (US$ 5/6)
in 1992 increased to Rs. 105,000 (US$ 1,435) by the year 2002 and
the price has been shooting up so as the international interest
on the mysterious half-caterpillar-half-mushroom known as Yarsagumba.
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| Villagers collecting Yarsagumba in Dolpa |
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Because of its high value, inter-village conflicts over access to its
grassland habitats has become a headache for the local governing bodies
and in several cases people were killed. In November 2011, a court in
Nepal convicted 19 villagers over the murder of a group of farmers
during a fight over the prized aphrodisiac fungus. Seven farmers were
killed in the remote northern district of Manang in June 2009 after
going to forage for Yarsagumba.
Its value gave it a role in the Nepalese Civil War, as the Nepalese Maoists and government forces fought for control of the lucrative export trade during the June–July harvest seaso
n. Collecting Yarsagumba
in Nepal had only been legalized in 2001, and now demand is highest in
countries such as China, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea and Japan. The search for Ophiocordyceps sinensis is often perceived to pose a threat to the environment of the Tibetan Plateau
where it grows. While it has been collected for centuries and is still
common in such areas, current collection rates are much higher than in
historical times. It is literally "
The Himalayan Gold ".
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| Quest for Yarsagumba in Manang |
