The forest of southern districts is known for its rich biodiversity, yet the diversity of wild mushrooms there remains unexplored. There has never been a proper technical survey conducted so far. The National Mushroom Centre, therefore, carried out a weeklong mushroom survey in Sarpang, which concluded yesterday. Researchers said it has become important to conduct one especially with the Gelephu Mindfulness City coming up.
The survey team collected around 40 species and came across five edible mushrooms such as termitomyces which is locally known as goli shamu, wood ear or bjeli namcho, polyporus or kaw shamu, panus or shing shamu and splitgill mushroom or tsintsiring bamung. The survey was to collect, identify, document, and process wild mushrooms. The survey was not just about cataloguing species but also about raising awareness amongst communities about the various types of wild mushrooms, especially distinguishing between edible and poisonous varieties.
Sabrita Pradhan, Senior Mushroom Officer of National Mushroom Centre said “We are not able to do the detailed survey but we at least thought to find out some species that may be available during this season and we are also planning to conduct the survey in four different seasons to have a comprehensive data. It is also because mushroom poisoning is very common. We have always wanted to do this but we have not been able to reach to the community.”
She said the Gelephu Mindfulness City, which is set to be developing soon, would benefit from this data. The information gathered from this survey will be crucial in promoting eco-tourism initiatives in the region. They are planning to open mushroom cultivation hubs. Tourists will have the opportunity in understand the diversity of wild mushrooms in the region.
“We are also interested to know what we have in our country. We know what flora, fauna and bird species we have but we really do not know the total diversities of the country. We, as the National Mushroom Centre, we also want to know what do we have, what we can domesticate, what medicines we can extract. We may have many mushrooms, which may be of economic and medicinal importance. We were trying to explore those things.”
People said it is very important to learn about the mushrooms growing around them. They said there have been cases of poisoning and this awareness programme will help them refrain from consuming inedible mushrooms. They are also surprised to know about the economic and medicinal value the mushrooms possess apart from edible ones.
“When we consume the mushrooms available in our area, it is concerning if we consume the unknown species, oblivious to it being poisonous or not, given the risks associated with it. Given that the unknown mushroom species can be a threat to life, we mostly consume the ones available in the market only,” said Karma Tshewang from Gakiling Gewog.
“We do not know if the mushrooms are poisonous or not. I think they are not growing in the forest here. However, there is a certain species that is found and consumed. Also, there is a mushroom grown in cow dung that some people consume but I don’t. I only consume the ones available in the market,” said Yeshey Wangmo from Gakiling Gewog.
The survey was carried out by the National Mushroom Centre in collaboration with Sarpang Forest Division, ARDC Samtenling and Sarpang agriculture sector.
Similar surveys were done in Bumthang and Thimphu as well.
Karma Wangdi
Edited by Kipchu
