Cordyceps- a cash cow for the highlanders is slowly losing its charm on the farmers who left their fields. With the cordyceps collectors hit hard by the disrupted market due to the pandemic, and the search for the fungus getting more difficult by the year with the increasing number of collectors and poor yield, people of Chhoekhor Toed in Bumthang are returning to their fields as an alternative source of income. They have been heavily reliant on the fungus for their livelihoods for almost two decades. Today, land reclamation works are underway in fields that have been left fallow for years and more people have started cultivating crops.
More than a decade ago, farmers in Kharsa of Chhoekhor left their fields for the coveted fungi. However, the acres of fallow land are now tilled and converted into cultivable fields. The Dzongkhag agriculture sector is helping the people with machinery and electric fencing. They will now be used for buckwheat cultivation. It will benefit more than 15 households of Kharsa and Shoogdak.
“Cordyceps collection demands a lot of hard work. We have to hire yaks to transport our ration and then walk for days to reach the collection sites. However, the number of collectors is increasing each year and everyone gets only a handful of the yield. Moreover, the price is not so good now. That’s why we have started cultivating crops. We are thankful to the government for providing us machinery and electric fencing,” said Nalay, from Shoogdak under Chhoekhor in Bumthang.
At Nangsiphel, a new farm road is constructed heading towards a large area of abandoned land. People proposed the gewog office for support and Nu 1.6 M has been allocated for land development, electric fencing and farm road construction. Mass buckwheat cultivation will be carried out in the area and a buckwheat farmers’ group will also be formed.
“The people in Chhoekhor Toed used to have an agrarian lifestyle in the past but due to the income from the sale of Cordyceps in the last decade or so, people have become less interested in agricultural farming. So the land development project is mainly aimed at reviving the agrarian lifestyle amongst the Cordyceps collectors,” said Pema Doengyel, the Chhoekhor Gup.
Elsewhere, new greenhouses are built to cultivate vegetables while some people are engaged in dairy farming as well.
“People are now focusing on dairy farming and weaving. Cordyceps collection is risky as people have to cross many rivers and walk through rugged mountains. It makes it more risky when people fall sick, so people now opt to stay back and concentrate on dairy farming,” said Dorji Lhamo, from Nangsiphel under Chhoekhor.
“People were not so keen about building greenhouses for growing vegetables in the past. However, greenhouses are in huge demand here now. The agriculture sector has allocated enough budget to procure new greenhouses. So by next year, I think every household here will have a greenhouse each,” said Kencho Norbu, the Nangsiphel_Zangling_Zhanjethang’s Tshogpa under Chhoekhor.
“Cordyceps yield is declining each year and we are struggling to sell whatever we collect from the mountains as there are not many buyers now. So we are growing our own vegetables so that we become self-reliant at least in terms of vegetables,” added Lhaden, also from Nangsiphel.
Amid the slump in the Cordyceps market, the number of Cordyceps collectors in Bumthang has also decreased this year. Less than 500 people are currently harvesting the fungi in contrast to over 800 people in the past. People say agriculture will continue to pick up if the Cordyceps market keeps falling.
Kipchu, Bumthang
