Yarsha Gumba with its scientific name Ophiocordyceos sinesis, is a rare medicinal herb that grows in Nepal in the meadows above 3,500 meters.
Most of the students in the schools here set out for remote highlands of the district to pick this caterpillar fungus ever year starting from mid of May to mid of June, stated Hemaraj Hamal, the Head Master of the local school, Tripura Sundari Secondary School.
Since trading of the Yarsha Gumba has been the main source of income to majority of the Dolpa folks, hundreds of students studying in some 100 primary schools, 15 lower-secondary schools, 11 secondary schools and two colleges in the district flock to high mountains to pick up this valuable herb used for different medicinal purposes.
Headmaster Hamal further said that the students arrange their tuition fees with the money they make from picking Yarsha.
Samantamani ACharya, the Assistant District Education officer in Dolpa shared that the schools here are generally shut down during this season although not in official manner as the schools are deserted in the absence of students who prefer to walk to highland meadows in the district to pick Yarsha.
According to him, mostly children and youngsters over elderly are enthusiastic about the Yarsha rush due to their better sight and nimble fingers, easing off in picking Yarsha.
One person could make up to Rs 100,000 to 150,000 from it, shared a tenth-grader Brikha Bahadur Kathayat, one of the members of the caravan.
Only two percent of the land in the Dolpa, the biggest district of the country, is arable. The harvest would hardly last through the year to eat. Hence, hundreds of locals, including students like Kathayat, risk their life trailing the highland terrain of Dolpa in search of the Yarsha. RSS
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