Yarsagumba is lifting living standard of rural Nepalese

Kathmandu January 8- A family can easily earn as much as Rs 600,000 during yarsagumba harvesting season from mid-May to mid-July, making the unique Himalayan fungus a major agent of change in living standard of the country’s rural people, a report released today by Nepal Rastra Bank states.

Each piece of harvested yarsagumba yields around Rs 800. This way a collector earns an average of Rs 120,000 during the season, states the report.

Since entire families in rural areas rush to pick up the fungus during the peak season, each of them stands to earn Rs 600,000 — which is almost eight times Nepal’s per capita income of Rs 76,065. “This is an indication that yarsagumba collection can lift living standard of people,” says the report.

Yarsagumba, which has various medicinal values and is also referred to as ‘Himalayan Viagra’, is the most expensive bio-resource available in the world today.

Its demand started going up rapidly after 1993 World Athletics Championship, during which Chinese athletes had set new world records. It is said these athletes were consuming yarsagumba as tonic, which enhanced their performance, says the report.

Annual production of yarsagumba worldwide stands at 83 to 183 tonnes and they yield $5 billion to $11 billion per year.Currently, China is the largest producer of yarsagumba and meets 95 per cent of the world demand.

So far, Nepal is the second largest supplier of this fungus, with official annual production standing at three tonnes. India, on the other hand, supplies 1.7 to 2.8 tonnes of yarsagumba per year, while Bhutan’s annual production hovers around 0.5 to 1.5 tonnes.

Around 500 different species of yarsagumba are found worldwide. Of these, 11 are found in 25 districts of the country at an altitude of 3,540 to 5,050 metres.