Inhabitants of the rural Mugu area, which borders China, have traditionally survived by trading with their northern neighbor. As soon as the border closed in early 2020, all trade ceased, pushing hundreds of households in this region of northwest Nepal to the brink of poverty. Villages who reside close to the Nepal-China border points claim that Beijing’s unpredictable trade policy is a major factor in their subpar standard of living. Every year, Tibet used to give a gift of commodities valued at Rs3.5 million to Mugum Karmarong Rural Municipality in Mugu.
Chhewa Gyalzen Tamang of the village of Daura Serog stated, “It too has stopped. “There hasn’t been any help for the past three years.” Infrastructural growth, according to him, has exploded in Tibet. Yet our situation is still dire. The district’s administrative center, Gamgadhi, is reportedly more difficult to get than Tibet. With a load of products, the journey to Tibet takes two days, but it just takes one day without them. From their communities, it takes three days to walk to Gamgadhi. “The standard of living is a lot better across the northern border,” claimed Tamang.
Many villages in Mugu are yet to be connected by roads. Tshiring Kyapne Lama, chairman of Mugum Karmarong Rural Municipality, said around 45 percent of the locals in the rural municipality were living in extreme poverty.“The number of people living below the poverty line has increased from 38 to 45 percent in a year,” said Lama.Mugu has seen rapid population growth which has put a strain on local natural resources. The production of medicinal herbs has declined due to overharvesting.“As people have been prevented from travelling to Tibet, cross-border trade has stopped and many of them have been pushed into poverty as a result,” said Lama.The population of Mugu district increased from 55,286 in 2011 to 64,549 in 2021, according to the latest census report. But in other remote areas, it is the other way around. Out-migration has emptied the hilly regions while the Tarai plains have become overpopulated.
In the decade before 2021, the proportion of the hill population came down to 40.31 percent from 43.01 percent, and the mountain population fell to 6.08 percent from 6.73 percent.Wangri village in Mugum Karmarong Rural Municipality has been almost empty for a decade.Many people have moved to Jumla. They return once a year to collect wild yarsagumba (cordyceps), a caterpillar fungus dubbed Himalayan Viagra and prized for its supposed aphrodisiac properties. The fungus is harvested between May and June before the monsoon sets in. Tens of thousands of people swarm over the Himalayan foothills in Rukum, Dolpa and Bajhang districts in western Nepal to collect it.“We have no option. We are forced to leave our birthplace to survive,” said Kunsang Tamang, a local of Wangri village. “There is a risk of starvation, and that has been forcing people to leave the village in droves.”
Locals from neighbouring villages have a similar story.“Forest fires, droughts, haphazard collection of herbs, lack of conservation and climate change have affected the production of herbs,” said Pranil Devkota, information officer at the Division Forest Office in Mugu.“Production started decreasing a decade ago,” said Karma Tamang, a medicinal herbs trader. “The collection of yarsagumba has been reduced by more than half.”There are around 120 households in Mugum Karmarong Rural Municipality-2. In most parts of Mugu, the villagers grow only potatoes and have to import foods throughout the year. The medicinal herb trade was one key source of income for the locals, but herb production has dropped too.
Herbs such as cordyceps, kutki (Picrorhiza kurroa), wild garlic (Allium wallichii), guchi chyau (Morchella esculenta), chiraito (Swertia chirayita), satuwa (Paris polyphylla), jatamasi (Nardostachys jatamansi) and padamchal (Rheum australe) have become scarce, locals say.Most of the income from selling herbs is spent on buying rice and millet.
For generations, the villagers have been dependent on Tibet for importing foods; but the closure of the border for the past three years has made life difficult for them.
“We have been struggling for our daily meal after the disruption of supply from Tibet,” said a local resident Sonam Tamang. “We have to walk for two and a half days to reach the nearest market to buy rice.”In the absence of motorable roads for transporting food materials, locals have to pay exorbitant prices for food.
A 25-kg sack of rice costs Rs7,500 in the village. That’s Rs300 for a kilo of rice. Inflation has added to their woes.“Life is difficult for poor people like us,” said Gara Tashi Tamang of Mugu village.According to the rural municipality, only 15 percent of the residents are able to buy food throughout the year. Among the rest, 45 percent can buy food for six months and 20 percent scrape by for three months.“The Nepal government has been frequently talking about constructing a cross-border railway, but it will be more than enough if they build a road linking us to the rest of the country,” said Lama, chairman of Mugum Karamarang Rural Municipality.
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