The Tibetan Plateau is a vast area, not all areas are produced Cordyceps, only those perennial mountain tops with snow and altitude of more than 4,000 meters to 6,000 meters, snowy mountains and mountainsides with shrubbery or meadows in part of the growth of Cordyceps (Cordyceps grows at an altitude of about 3,500-5,000 meters). These places are in poor conditions, most of the time in the year below freezing and severe lack of oxygen, is not suitable for human year-round residence, rare.
The weather warms up in April-May every year, and only after the snow melts on the snowy mountainside do Tibetans come to camp at the foot of the snowy mountains through horses, yaks, tractors, trucks, motorcycles and other means of transportation to overcome the high altitude sickness and live for 2 months. Although the mainland temperature has been 20-30 degrees Celsius, here is still cold, and from time to time there will be wind, snow and hail and other bad weather, food and housing conditions are very poor.
Cordyceps mining process is not easy, first of all, most of the altitude here is more than 3,800 meters, belonging to the lack of oxygen environment. Secondly, the ultraviolet rays are particularly strong here, and you need to wrap your head and face or you will get burned. Then, looking for cordyceps need to half squatting or lying in the grass, because here almost every night or irregularly there will be rain and snow, the ground is relatively wet, 2 months digging down, will cause some hidden diseases. Finally, and most importantly, very lonely, very careful, very hurt eyes and energy to find, a day can only be found as little as 1-2 roots or even one without, as much as 20-30 strips, counting an average of 10 strips a day.
Only 8 pieces of Cordyceps a day were dug up
After so much padding, back to the main topic. According to the operation in such a grueling environment, it is not too much to calculate the average daily wage of 300 yuan per digger. A month's income is 9,000 yuan, 10 wormwood per day, each wormwood should be worth 30 yuan. Therefore, we don't even need to consider what medicinal value Cordyceps has, we just need to calculate that the cost of obtaining it averages over $30 per cordyceps. (That's why Cordyceps sold for less than $100 is undoubtedly fake). Secondly, Cordyceps in the circulation process will also produce transportation, marketing costs, store expenses (e-commerce also has operating costs), reasonable profit, etc., so it is not surprising to see the price of Cordyceps so high. Of course, with the rise of cordyceps e-commerce, the price of cordyceps has now returned to a relatively reasonable price.
So, dear readers, after reading the above explanation, we all know that the reason why Cordyceps is expensive is because of the high cost of Cordyceps excavation. Now, do you still think Cordyceps is expensive?