PICS: DEWAN RAI

It's eight in the morning and more than 20 groups of yarsagumba collectors have already passed Reiky. Pema Tsering who owns a tea shop is too busy to even chat with customers. Like her neighbours, she is in a hurry to send her brother off on his two month yarsa-picking trip.

Mid-June to August is the prime picking season in Dolpo for yarsagumba, the Himalayan caterpillar-fungus prized in China as an aphrodisiac. But over-harvesting in past years has depleted the crop, and across the Himalaya from Rasuwa to Humla, this year's yarsa season has been a disastrous failure.

Shops, schools, government offices are closed during this season and the 29 km stretch between Lake Phoksundo and Sulligard is teeming with tens of thousands of mules and their owners. It is like the gold rush in the American outback, but many this year are returning disappointed.

Not just the people of Dolpo, but entire families from the lower valleys of mid-western Nepal have trekked up here to collect the big, bright yellow yarsagumba. A middleman here will buy the harvest for Rs 30,000 per kg and sell for up to Rs 2.5 million across the border in Tibet, and by the time it gets to pharmacies in Shanghai it can be worth $100 apiece. But this year, the low harvest is sure to raise prices.

Krishna Rokaya and his family, made the six day trek from Rukum to Sulligard in hopes of harvesting yarsa and repaying their debts. He had to take a loan to pay for the journey, but it looks like this year he will be even more indebted. "I am going to keep trying," he said, "even if I collect half a kg this season, I can feed my family for a few months."

Pushpalal Pun of Jajarkot shares a similar story. He left his BA classes, and is hoping to make a big collection this season so that his family can scratch out a living for rest of the year. But seeing the yarsa pickers coming back down the high valleys empty-handed, he fears the trip may be in vain.

Not everyone agrees that yarsa harvests are down. Ram Prasad Mahat, chairman of the Shey Phoksundo National Park and Buffer Zone Management Committee says: "Since there are more pickers, the average collection per person has gone down, but yarsas are still plentiful."  He sees the increase in yarsagumba pickers as a positive sign. This year the committee collected Rs 10 million as entry fee up from Rs 6 million in 2011 and Mahat says the national park could earn up to Rs 100 million if there are stricter regulations. People from outside the district are charged Rs 1,100 while Dolpo residents pay Rs 600.

The yarsagumba picked in Dolpo go straight north to Tibet via the border points at Mamu Chhohra and Kyate Chhohra.

 

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