Skip to main content

Cordyceps business help boost rural economy but for how long?


Cordyceps - the magic worm

Dhur village in Bumthang has witnessed a radical transformation recently – all thanks to Chinese Caterpillar (Cordyceps sinensis). With legalization of Cordyceps collection to the highlanders few years ago, considerable positive impacts have been felt by the beneficiaries. This is one of the initiatives by the Hon’ble Agriculture Minister, Lyonpo (Dr.) Pema Gyamtsho, in his attempt to enable communities derive maximum benefit from the natural resource base in the Country. The fungus collection has also considerably contributed towards alleviating poverty incidences which is the main theme of the 10th Five Year Plan. The poverty in Bhutan is predominantly of a rural phenomenon and the programme targets the rural beneficiaries. That is why it has greater potential comparatively to contribute towards current plan’s thrust towards poverty reduction.
The quadrupled annual income and complete physical transformation of the Dhur village in Bumthang can be directly attributed to cordyceps harvesting. From measly income few years ago from sales of animal products, the annual income of the Choekhor gewog has multiplied to staggering 7.5 million as claimed by Mr. Jigme Dorji, Geog Administration Officer (GAO). “Cordyceps collection entails little investments since it is grown naturally in the wild as compared to potato cultivation” said, GAO. He added that the income generation at household level ranges from 20,000 to 270,000 annually.
The constructions by the majority of new and better houses by the 90 Dhur households are all due to the harvesting of so-called Yartsa Guenbup (summer plant and winter worm) or Cordyceps.  People can now afford better housing, clothing, good food and maintain better sanitary all adds up to healthy living. Cordyceps is now helping the village of Dhur realize the government’s development philosophy of Philosophy of Gross National Happiness.
However, on the flip side, it is generally believed that cordyceps has encouraged the farmers to switch on to its collection and forget the traditional agriculture practice. Mr. Sangay Wangchuk with Ugyen Wangchuck Institute of Forest & Environment Conservation said that cordyceps business has become so lucrative that at least 7-8 beneficiaries are solely dependent on the trade. While some more are into trucking, taxi driving & chain saw operation business. Few have set up retail shops.
Sustainability of livelihood due to such shift is questioned. This is because the growth and survival of the Chinese caterpillars are directly related to climatic conditions. With climate change impacts being felt ever greater with times, the cordeceps may not be a sustainable and reliable source of income for the farmers. It may not be wise to forget the traditional agriculture system after all.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Long, long, long journey to Education

“Root of the education is bitter but the fruit is sweet” no one would know about it better than Kado. The fatigue of having to toddle to the school, fever of unending exams, the torture of having to burn the midnight oil, dozing in classes and the stern rigors are hard to endure, few even give up on the way but many endure it with utmost determination and commitment, because deep inside everyone knows it pays later. “Root of the education is bitter but the fruit is sweet” no one would know about it better than Kado Kado in the tender age of 12 is negotiating the lazily meandering footpath along the steep mountain. His school bag, full of books, pulls him back. His black naughty boy school shoe is all soiled, indication of how many times he has trudged that same footpath. He is on his way to the primary school in his village, almost 5 kilometers away. He has to make sure he is in the school before morning social work starts; else he gets penalized. Unlike the students who reside nearb...
Post a Comment
Read more

Defining Tsa-Wa-Sum in One’s own Perspective

If I am asked, I would boldly answer, “The Tsa-Wa-Sum is “Gyeb, Gyelkhab and Meser”, (King, Country and People). But not everyone knows about what tsa-wa-sum is. Hence, when the superior ask them, they are left to conceive their own tsa-wa-sum. Once a meeting was convened by the Dzongdag. In a large congregation of illiterate rural people, the Dzongdag thundered, “do you know what tsa-wa-sum is?” “Can anyone from the crowd tell me?” The crowd went to pin drop silence and no one seems ready to answer. Are they scared of Dasho or no one has the slightest idea what it is? Suddenly, a Ngalop man sitting in the last bench, for whom Dasho is hardly visible, stood up. With his head bowed low, he answers, “The three tsa-wa-sum are Ngalops, Sharchops and Lhotsampas”. “This is because they are the three race in Bhutan” Dasho went into bout of annoyance but before he fired the man, another Lhotsampa (Southern Bhutanese Man) supplemented, “the three tsa-wa-sum are Royal Bhutan Army (RBA) Royal B...
1 comment
Read more

Eternal Enemies

The Cats and Dogs are often adopted by the people in the metropolitan as pets. They go pretty good as pets since they are known to be endearing animals. Some set of folks have their paramount love and passion for these animals. But back in the village, these two creatures are mainly spared space in the home to shoulder their own responsibilities. For instance, the cat is entrusted with the job of dwindling or keeping at the sea bed, the number of rats referred to as naughty rodents in the village. And the dog cannot keep eating what the owner provides and sleep. At night, they have to escort the owners into the corn field and keep barking to keep away, the lurking night’s ambusher (deer, bears, porcupine, and wild pig etcetera). So, I see no overlapping of their right to food and duties. But, many might have surely taken the notice of these two four legged animal never tolerating each other’s presence. One fine day they meet but await a big confrontation. The sight of one another inv...
2 comments
Read more