There's gold in them hills.... It's a power drug in China and grows on a caterpillar.
* The demand for Yarchagumba, a fungus that grows on a caterpillar and is found in the Himalayan states, has suddenly gone up in China
* Some in the trade suspect this is because of the Olympics. Prices have hit Rs 7-10 lakh per kg.
* Villagers in Himalayan states are often found collecting it illegally from protected reserves
* The trade in Yarchagumba is harming the fragile habitat in the upper reaches, prompting wildlife experts to call for regulation
Improbable though it may sound, an exotic fungus has triggered a gold rush of sorts in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
Considered a performance enhancer, Yarchagumba is a much-sought-after ingredient in traditional medicine in China. But some trade observers suspect that the Beijing Olympics has pushed prices to a never-before high this year. In 2007 a kilogram of the fungus sold for about Rs 4 lakh, but prices could now crest anywhere between Rs 7 lakh and Rs 10 lakh.
Given the high value associated with this fungus, over-exploitation and smuggling has become rampant and menacing. In the past two weeks, there have been at least two foiled instances of smuggling of the fungus. The first one involved an Assam Rifles jawan who was reportedly caught with a few lakh of rupees and about 500 grams of the fungus in Bageshwar, Uttarakhand. The second incident took place in Sikkim, where three smugglers were nabbed by the state forest department on July 2 with 17 kg of the fungus on them. In the past two years, there have also been two murders in Uttarakhand that some claim were linked to the trade in the fungus.
Yarchagumba, scientifically known as Cordyceps sinesis, grows on caterpillars of the Hepilus fabricius moth. Spores of the fungus grow inside the caterpillar and produce a stalked structure that grows outward from its body. The collection season usually begins with the onset of spring and lasts a few weeks. In India, it is found in the Himalayan stretches at an altitude of about 3,500 metres. The fungus contains proteins, peptides, essential amino acids, and Vitamins B1, B2 and B12, among other nutrients.
Most of the harvest is exported illegally to Nepal to be sent onward to China. While some have speculated about a link between the present surge in the trade this season and the forthcoming Beijing Olympics, there is no hard evidence yet to back that claim. That may, however, be a possibility as the fungus's popularity first soared after the 1993 World Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, when Chinese female athletes shocked the world by smashing records in several track and field events. Their coach, Ma Zunren, gave part of the credit to a tonic containing the fungus.
The potential of Yarchagumba has not, however, received much official attention yet. "We are trying to grow it artificially on grain and come up with a processed form that may be used by Indian drug companies," says A.N. Shukla, head of forest pathology at the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun.
Meanwhile, every spring villages in the hills empty themselves as the able-bodied set out for the meadows in search of the fungus. This unregulated exploitation poses a major threat to the fragile ecosystem of alpine meadows that are known for their exuberant but short-lived burst of plant life during summers. The habitat shelters endangered animals like the musk deer, snow leopard and Himalayan brown bear, besides several protected species of flora. All this may be in danger if the collection of the caterpillar fungus is not checked.
For, during collection, hundreds of people often camp together. Besides digging and trampling, these people also end up using wood from trees such as rhododendrons and junipers as firewood. About 500 pieces of the caterpillar fungus can be found in a hectare and it takes about 4,000 to make a kilogram. "To collect them people go to extremes. This is likely to have a heavy impact because the ecosystem is generally not subject to such intense exploitation over a short period," says Samir Sinha, head of traffic at WWF, which monitors wildlife trade. The money that comes from the fungus is also believed to sustain trafficking in protected species. "There are growing reports of this link from various agencies," he adds.
The trade in this fungus is also beginning to have a far-reaching social impact in the regions where it grows. Awash with money from selling the fungus, people have turned super-rich overnight in some hill towns. "Suddenly you see guys zipping around on bikes," says Chandra Singh Negi, a zoology lecturer at the Government Graduate College in Pithoragarh, a hotbed of the trade. "And during the collection season school attendance drops by as much as 80 per cent in some schools." The keen eyesight of the young helps in finding the fungus strands camouflaged in the grass.
Aware of the risks posed by such an untrammelled exploitation, the Uttarakhand government now authorises only certain panchayats to collect Yarchagumba. The harvest is then handed over to either the Van Nigam or the Kumaon Vikas Mandal Nigam for trading. "That has helped control the problem of social conflicts but one cannot stop illegal collection or smuggling completely in this terrain," says Ram Gopal, the district forest officer from Pithoragarh.
The problem, Sinha explains, is that the caterpillar fungus is not as yet protected under any Indian or international wildlife legislation. "Which means there is no effective barrier against its collection or trade. The law is very ambiguous on Yarchagumba. The only way to penalise somebody presently for collecting the fungus is if it's carried out of a protected area," he says. "What is needed is a framework that allows the locals to benefit without harming the environment." For that, the state governments have to first formulate an action plan to regulate the trade.
No comments:
Post a Comment