Bajhang, June 13

BAJHANG: The number of children climbing up the hills to collect the prized herb Yarsagumba is on the rise.

Impoverished guardians have been taking their children to collect the herb hoping that their small help would help feed the family for an entire year.

“Since children can fast notice the small buds in the snow, parents take the kids with them,” said Dharmajung Singh, president of Bajhang Herbal Concerned Organisation.

According to Singh, as many as 1,000 to 1,400 children have accompanied their parents to collect Yarsagumba.

These children under the age of 15 from Kauda, Surya, Sunikot, Dahabagar and Lekgaon Village Development Committees are mostly students.

Meanwhile, District Education Office said 18 schools of district’s upper region had been closed from April 28 to June 29.

It is believed that a child can collect from 1 to 2 kg of Yarsagumba.

This year some 10,000 people from inside and outside the district have climbed up to the mountainous region to collect the herb.

Puran Joshi, who was descending all the way from Surya Lake a place for collecting the herb said children and their parents had been collecting the herb. “Some kids have even been suffering from cold,” he said.