- Bhishma P. Subedi

Morel mushrooms, locally known as Gutchichyau, Morelchyau, Khoya-chyau, Gutchi, Pote Chyau, Bhundi-chyau, are one of the high-value NTFPs of Nepal and mostly found in Western Nepal Himalaya. Eight species of Morchella are collected in Nepal (Adhikari 2000), of which M. conica and M. esculenta are common in trade.

It is a non-chlorophyllous fungus. The fruiting structure 'ascocarp' comes from the mycelium that is differentiated into a conical 'pileus' (cap) and a cylindrical 'stipe' (stem, commonly known as tail). Its short, thick, hollow stem is topped with sponge-like pointed cap, resembling honeycombs. The stipe is 2-3" in height and ½ to 1" in width. The stipe is composed of compact interwoven hyphae. The pileus has small depressions or ridges that are asci, and contain ascospores. The fruiting body is creamy colored, which is always fleshy and leathery. The mushroom may be tan, yellow or black in color and produce a rich, nut-like flavor and woody fragrance.

Distribution and Habitat

Gutchichyau is distributed in an elevation range from 2000m to 3500m, temperate to sub-alpine in wet and shady coniferous forests, especially on north facing slopes in Nepal. It is more abundant in the west of Budhigandaki river through the district of Darchula. Jumla and adjoining areas are known for its commercial supply for decades. Gutchichyau is an annual saprophytic fungus that grows on dead and decaying woods in coniferous forests. The fruiting bodies are usually seen in clusters on organic substrata. The fungus grows vigorously near and beneath the fallen trees of the previous year, where good humus has been formed. It is found nicely grown in fire burn and dense coniferous forest. It starts to grow in the beginning of summer from March to May (Falgun - Jestha), rarely found growing until August. The availability and abundance of the species in its natural habitat depends upon the rainfall/snowfall in the month of March and April. If there is not sufficient rainfall, the production of Gutchichyau decreases.

The main plant associates of Gutchichyau are Bhojpatra (Betula utilis), Bugre Salla (Tsuga dumosa), Buke Phool (Anaphalis sp.), Chimal (Rhododendron companulatum), Dhupi (Cupressus torulosa), Gobresalla (Pinus wallichiana), Jhule Sallo (Picea smithiana), Kharsu (Quercus semicarpifolia), Khotesalla (Pinus roxburghii), Lahare pipal (Populus ciliata), Laligurans (Rhododendron arboreum), Nigalo (Arundinaria falcata), and Thingre Sallo (Abies spectabilis).

Harvesting and Management

People have been engaged in collecting the mushrooms for many years for both subsistence and commercial purposes. The collection period starts in late March (Baishak) and lasts for three months. The morels are hand picked together with tails, carefully handled and dried so that the nice shape and quality of morels retains.

Sustainability Issues. It is found that the present trend and practice of Gutchichyau collection does not have any

harmful impact on the availability and abundance of the species in its natural habitat as long as the quality of forest habitat is maintained and fire and over-grazing controlled. It regenerates naturally from the spores. Harvestable cap or the fruiting body of the fungus disperses away its spores for regeneration before it is being collected. The fruiting body develops and matures within a short period of time, approximately within few hours to few days.

Morels are collected from government-managed national forests, protected areas (national parks, conservation areas, wildlife sanctuaries) and community forests. There is still a large area of its habitat is outside the community forestry, and it is not included in the operational plan for its management and use. As a result, morels are practically under open access property although the DOF issues collection permit, charges royalty and controls transportation.

Handing over of additional forest areas to FUG and helping them to include the morels in their operational plans would provide them incentives to effectively manage the forest for maintaining Gutchichyau habitat that is conducive for its production.

Preferable habitat is dense forest, and deforestation may cause decrease in production. Forest fire during spring can have negative impact on the regeneration, as it can dry the soil surface. Thus control on fire during spring is advisable. There is no information available regarding its management, cultivation and agro-technology development to date. Research on in situ management and domestication of this species is felt necessary. Studies of most productive habitats and experimentation with manipulative factors would identify the forest management operations to enhance the productivity and sustainability of morels.

Utilization

The stipe (tail) and pileus (cap) of the fungus are the parts used for edible purpose. Gutchichyau is a luxurious food. Because of their high price and demand morels are mainly collected for commerce and rarely for local consumption. This product is consumed for the preparation of delicious food 'from the Himalayas' in expensive international star hotels and restaurants mostly in Europe, USA and Japan.

Marketing

There is a good demand of dried morels in Europe. In Europe, France and Switzerland are the main users. Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands also use

limited amount. North American countries import limited amount, as they have their own production as well. Regarding the supply from Nepal, based on the traders' information, about 6,000 Kg of annual production of dried morels has been estimated from Jumla, Humla, Mugu and Dolpa, the main supply areas of Nepal.

The morels handling for trade involves the following main functions: collection, cleaning/drying, transport, storage, processing, grading, packaging, wholesale, and export. Current marketing channels of morels follow a pattern. The fresh morels are collected from forest and brought to village. After cleaning and drying, the product is transported to district headquarters by collectors or through village traders. The airport traders, who also manages to get collection and transit permit and pay royalty, airlift the dried morels to Nepalgunj to sell to traders in Nepalgunj or carry to Kathmandu. The morels from Nepalgunj mainly goes to India and rest to Kathmandu for further export to European markets.

The price trends of morels in the past few years showed a high degree of yearly as well as seasonal fluctuations. The fluctuation is higher at trading centres than at the village level. For example, in 2000, while village prices stayed in the range of NRs 4000-6000/kg, prices in Nepalgunj went from NRs 4000/kg in March to NRs 8,500/kg in September. In Delhi during the same period prices went from NRs 5000/kg to 10,000/kg. The prices in earlier years were NRs 2500-3000/kg in villages, NRs. 3000-3500/kg in Nepalgunj and NRs 4,500-5,000/kg in Delhi. The prices are getting down again this year.

Quality is an important issue for the high-value products like morels. Improvement in handling to retain the shape, drying, cleaning, sorting, grading and packaging can add value to the product. It is important to dry them immediately after harvest. Morels are usually sun-dried, but in the absence of sunlight, they are heated over an open fire for 5 to 7 minutes, beaded on a string and hung at dry place at a bulk under the roof in the kitchen. Although some restaurants in France prefer morel with a light taste of smoke as it gives a taste of wilderness to the food, non-smoked morels generally fetch high price in Europe. Morels cannot be stored for a long period without deterioration and should be used within a year.

Socio-Economic and Policy Issues

Natural habitats of morels are not far away from the community settlement, and in many cases morels are the major source of cash income especially for the poorest households in the village and may represent

earnings of between NRs 2000 to 3000 of these households (up to 50% of their total annual cash earnings). All members of the households, young and old, women and men collect them; but women and children often do it as a supplementary activity to gathering fodder, fuel wood, and animal bedding. In a given village which has access to this resource, almost all households collects morels during the season. Some may only collect 250 gm while other may collect 0.5 to 1 kg. Sometimes collectors get cash advance from wholesalers or village traders. The money generated from the sale of morels is used to buy clothes, food, and for other household expenses.

There are no negative impacts on the resource as long as the villagers maintain the quality of the forest, prevent fires and overgrazing. However there are some policy related challenges and opportunities that address the issues of conservation and poverty. Handing over of forest to new or existing FUG and inclusion of morels in operational plan would be the first step for people's participation. Technical assistance is needed to FUGs to effectively manage the habitats for increased productivity as well as support in value-added processing and marketing. There is a scope to improve quality of morels by improving the post harvest handling. Some examples that the villagers can easily with some training include cleaning, drying, simple processing such as removing sandbags or tails, sorting by size and grading, and packaging. Although not guaranteed for sure, the organic and fair-trade certification may attract to get some price premium.