Mugu – In Patan area of Mugum Karmarong Village in Mugu, Yarsa traders have started collecting and selling at 28 lakh rupees per kg.
It is said that the businessmen bought 600 to 1200 per kg from the local people and took it outside the district and started selling it for 28 lakhs per kg.
Yarsa purchased by the businessmen in Patan area of Karmarong Rural Municipality was sold for 28 lakh per kg. Ward no. 2 Mugu village ward chairman Chywa Tamang said.
He said that the small yarsa was sold at 21 lakh per kg and the big khalva yarsa was sold at 28 lakh per kg. The Ward Chairman also said that Yarsa collected by Mugu traders is taken to Kathmandu and sold to Tibetan traders for 2.8 million per kg.
But it is said that the traders are buying up to 18 lakhs per kg from local collectors. After taking it outside the district, they sell it at a minimum price of 2.1 lakh to 2.8 lakh per kg.
Traders from Tibet come to Kathmandu to buy yarsa in the market. But when the northern Nakchenangla border crossing of Mugu was not opened, the collected yarsa has started to be exported to Kathmandu. In the past years, traders used to illegally sell yarsa through the Mugu Nakchenangla border crossing, but now, when the border is not open, the yarsa from here is exported to Nepalgunj and Kathmandu.
Tibet has closed the Nakchenangla border in Mugu since the spread of the Corona epidemic, and this year too, there is a problem in the sale of herbs because the border is not open. Small Koiki, Big Koiki, Rimar, Tanke, etc. in Patan area of Mugum Karmarong Rural Municipality, Yarsa collected by locals has been bought and sold at a higher price this year.
Until three years ago, the locals used to sell yarsa to the traders for 300 to 500 per kg and the traders were selling it for 10 to 12 lakhs per kg, but this year it was sold for 28 lakhs per kg. Along with this, every Yarsa picker in Patan area has earned a minimum of 3 lakh to 5 lakh in this season.
Meanwhile, Mugum Karmarong Rural Municipality has collected 4.5 million revenue as entrance fee from the locals who go to pick Yarsa in Patan, informed the municipality chairman Chhiringkapne Lama. After the beginning of May, the municipality gives permission to the locals to pick yarsa and they return home after picking yarsa in Patan for about a month.
