Tricky business behind the highly priced fungus

Locally known as Yartsa Gonbub (direct translation: Yartsa- grass in summer and Gonbob- worm during winter) has been known to the highlander since their childhood is how a 65 year old Yak herder responses if someone happens to ask him about the fungus. By then it was just a fungus with not much economical value, hardly fetching ngultrum ten per piece and was abundantly found. But the present generation highlander has a different story to be unfolded. At present, after the legalization of fungus collection from year 2004 with the Royal Kasho, every succeeding year, people are hardly able to find few numbers of fungus per day which was once known to be collected in a bucket.

After the legalization, marketing of Ophiocordcep sinensis (Fungus) has been done through open auctioning process with technical guidance from department of agricultural marketing and cooperatives.  Every succeeding year, price of the fungus started shooting up from few hundred thousand to a million ngultrum attracting eye of every collectors.

Being one of the highly priced non wood forest produce (Fungus), during its auctioning process despite the strict regulation by the law enforcer to overcome any illegal means of selling, both buyer and sellers resort in disposing their 50% of the collected fungus though means of illegal channel. Seller opt for illegal selling as they are offered better price by the buyer who has an advantage of getting better quality fungus without going via hassle bidding process.

Laws cannot be broken but twisted is vividly witnessed during the cordycep business. Some bidders buy fungus from particular auctioning yard at low price and then when it comes to next auctioning yard, with the help of some collectors they re-auction their fungus. In re-auction the same bidder keeps on bidding higher price on their fungus, so that at the end he/she simply earns more than what they have actually paid in initial buying from the previous auction yard.  On other hand, bidders buy low quality fungus from auction yard to get export permit from the concerned agencies but in reality they export better quality fungus bought illegally from the buyer without any royalty to government with the export permit obtained for low quality fungus during the auction.

Most of the Cordycep collectors are illiterate  who are herders and a farmers but when it comes to trade, they are much more smarter than what law enforcer usually anticipate. Collectors hardly produce half of their collection in front of the recording officials since its mandatory to legally register the amount of fungus they have collected during a month long collection period. Rest are disposed through illegal trade either within the country or across the northern border.