Secular Café: The 'Viagra' transforming local economies in India

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The 'Viagra' transforming local economies in India Jul 9th 2012, 11:19 :eek: Quote: 7 July 2012 Last updated at 09:33 ET The 'Viagra' transforming local economies in India By Craig Jeffrey Indian Himalayas A rare fungus some are calling Indian Viagra is starting to transform local economies in the Himalayas. But some of those harvesting it are now having to arm themselves to protect what has become a valuable cash crop. There is a fungus that attacks caterpillars in the Indian Himalayas. People in north India call it kira jari. In neighbouring Tibet it is known as yarsagumba. The fungus mummifies its prey and then grows out of the top of the dead caterpillar's head. It appears above ground just as the snow melts in May or June. In China, kira jari is used as an aphrodisiac. Athletes have used it as a performance-enhancing drug. For villagers in the Indian Himalayas it is a source of income. During the last five years they have begun to collect the caterpillar fungus and sell it to local traders. These middlemen, in turn, sell the fungi to businesspeople in Delhi and it travels on from there to Nepal and China. When sold in the village, a single fungus fetches 150 Indian rupees (about £2 or $3) - more than the daily wage of a manual labourer. Some people are able to collect 40 in a single day. So the search for caterpillar fungus has come to resemble a type of Himalayan gold rush. I have spent the past few months in the Indian Himalayas doing research on youth and social change. I lived in the village of Bemni, located at about 10,000 feet (3,000m) near the Indian border with Tibet. Continue reading the main story "Start Quote A villager hunting for the "Kira jari" fungus Searching for the fungus involves lying on your front, elbows dug into the scree and snow, scouring the ground in front of you" Much of our time was spent trying to understand the changing economy of the village, and kira jari featured heavily in our interviews. Take Prem Singh, a 24-year-old man in the village known for his restless energy and appetite for hard work. Prem spent the first two weeks of May in high altitude snowfields collecting kira jari. He went on his own, carrying rice, wheat and daal on his back, camping in a cave on the way, and eventually pitching camp 5,000 metres up. He found nothing during the first three days. ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18735544

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