Charlotte Alfred, Huffington Post, 18 June 2016<\/p>\n
In the beautiful but unforgiving mountains of Tibet, nomads harvest a lucrative caterpillar fungus known for its medicinal properties. But they fear the boom may be over.<\/p>\n
Tibetan nomads who once eked out a living as farmers or yak-herders have found a lucrative new business in recent years \u2014 caterpillar fungus.<\/p>\n
Also known as cordyceps, the fungus grows on caterpillars, killing and mummifying them underground before growing a stalk that can be picked like a mushroom in spring. The fungus is relatively rare, but flourishes in the high altitudes and low temperatures of the Tibetan Plateau.<\/p>\n
The fungus has been popular for centuries as a traditional cure for ailments ranging from asthma to impotence. But demand has skyrocketed as China\u2019s middle class expands, says Getty photojournalist Kevin Frayer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe insatiable demand in the last decade for use in Chinese medicine has driven the prices to a point where good quality fungus can be worth more than their weight in gold,\u201d Frayer told The WorldPost in an email.<\/p>\n
Frayer, who is documenting the lives of nomadic Tibetan communities for an ongoing project, said everyone he met kept talking about the annual harvest, so he went along last month.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mountains of Tibet are vast and many of the places the cordyceps fungus are harvested from are quite remote \u2026 so you need to trek in and climb to access the areas,\u201d he said. \u201cThe landscape is incredible and exceptionally beautiful but the terrain is also hard and unforgiving.\u201d<\/p>\n
The harvest usually lasts one month in May and June, and has become a major part of the region\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
Many Tibetan nomads have given up on traditional trades in favor of the annual caterpillar fungus \u201cgold rush,\u201d Frayer explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor millennia they have been yak and livestock herders living off the land, but now more and more people are relying on the fungus to pay their bills,\u201d he said. \u201cThe harvest gives these communities [a] chance to make in weeks what normally might take a year or more.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trouble is, it\u2019s getting harder and harder to hunt down the caterpillar fungus, which can\u2019t grow fast enough to keep up with Chinese appetites. Tibetan nomads told Frayer that the yield from this year\u2019s harvest was the lowest they\u2019d ever seen. Environmentalists have also warned about the long-term impact of the harvest on the sensitive environment of the Tibetan Plateau.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, prices for the fungus are falling, and harvesters fear China\u2019s crackdown on corruption could hurt demand for the product as a high-value gift for officials. A recent health warning about arsenic levels in caterpillar fungus products is a further headache for cordyceps hunters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe locals know it\u2019s a false economy, or at least temporary in many ways \u2014 one Tibetan man referred to the fungus as \u201cfool\u2019s gold\u201d and he worried that one day they will be worthless,\u201d Frayer said.<\/p>\n
One day when he was documenting the harvest, Frayer said, the altitude started to get to him and he laid down for a nap. \u201cAs I dozed off, I felt a nudge from a man picking cordyceps fungus nearby. He told me it is bad luck to fall asleep in the mountains,\u201d he recalled. \u201c\u2018It might anger the mountain gods,\u2019 he told me, \u2018and that would be bad for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
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