The Himalayas are running out of their prized harvest

Yarsagumba collectors in Mugu and Dolpa are earning far less as declining yields and climate pressures weaken a vital source of income.

For nearly two decades, 62-year-old Durga Bahadur Budha has trekked into the remote alpine meadows of Mugu every spring in search of yarsagumba (Cordyceps sinensis), the prized Himalayan fungus-caterpillar that sustains thousands of families across Nepal’s Karnali province.