Srinagar: A prized forest delicacy among the world’s most expensive mushrooms is collapsing in the wild even as scientists in Kashmir say they may have found a way to cultivate it.
Gucchi, or morel mushroom, has seen output fall sharply across Jammu and Kashmir—from around 2,000 quintals in 1991 to just 88 quintals in 2018—as erratic snowfall, shifting rainfall patterns and forest degradation disrupt the fragile ecological conditions it depends on.
It is primarily found in the foothills and forested belts across districts including Poonch, Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Anantnag, Bandipora, Kupwara and Pulwama.
In Kashmir’s higher forests, collectors describe damp pine floors layered with decaying needles and logs—exactly the moisture-rich microhabitat where the mushroom once emerged reliably in spring. That seasonal rhythm, they say, has become increasingly erratic.
At the same time, global competition is intensifying, with countries such as China advancing morel cultivation techniques and putting additional pressure on prices.
From forest to lab
Now, researchers at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST-K) say they have successfully standardized cultivation of Gucchi under controlled greenhouse and open-field conditions, a breakthrough in a species long considered nearly impossible to farm.
“This is a game-changing breakthrough,” said SKUAST-K vice chancellor Nazir Ahmad Ganai. “This innovation marks a paradigm shift from dependence on uncertain wild collection to a controlled, scalable production system. It opens new opportunities for farmers, youth and entrepreneurs and contributes to ecological conservation.”
But scientists say the achievement came only after years of reconstructing the mushroom’s ecological and biological conditions from scratch. Morels have long resisted cultivation, requiring highly specific environmental conditions such as soil composition, temperature, moisture, and surrounding vegetation.
“We collected Morchella from over 1,000 locations across Kashmir Valley,” said Dr. Tariq Ahmad Sofi, a plant pathology scientist. “Wherever we found it, we studied everything, the soil profile, the microclimate, the plants around it, whether small shrubs or large trees. We created a complete ecological profile of each location.”
The most difficult step, Sofi said, was developing viable spawn, or the seed of the mushroom. “We tried many formulations. The novelty was in developing a specific formulation that finally worked.”
Out of ten strains tested, three have produced fruiting bodies so far.
Rebuilding the mushroom in the field
While Sofi and his PhD scholar Kamran Muneer cultivated morels under controlled polyhouse conditions, at SKUAST-K’s Wadura campus, open-field trials led by assistant professor of faculty of agriculture Dr. Vikas Gupta attempted replicate natural habitats.
“We tried to replicate the natural habitat in open conditions, and we were successful in growing it,” Gupta said. “But this is only the first trial.”
He cautioned that the technology is still not ready for transfer. “We need at least two trials before technology transfer,” he said.
The findings also challenge long-held local beliefs that Gucchi grows after lightning or thunder.
“We did not find any scientific evidence linking lightning or thunder to its growth,” Sofi said.
A wider shift
If successful, officials say the breakthrough could reshape Kashmir’s agricultural economy and reduce dependence on fragile forest ecosystems. Chief minister Omar Abdullah said it could strengthen rural incomes and research capacity.
Economically, Gucchi remains one of the region’s highest-value forest products, fetching up to ₹30,000– ₹40,000 per kg, though supply has tightened significantly.
Beyond the wild harvest economy, mushroom cultivation has already begun reshaping rural livelihoods in Kashmir. Hundreds of women-led self-help groups, supported by government schemes, have taken up button and oyster mushroom farming—often in small indoor units that generate year-round supplementary income and reduce dependence on seasonal forest collection.
But experts caution that scaling Gucchi cultivation could also alter its identity.
“It has the potential to transform Gucchi from a scarce, forest-dependent delicacy into a scalable agricultural resource,” said Dr Rukhsar Sayeed, a Srinagar-based food entrepreneur and former MasterChef India contestant. “Increased availability can stabilize supply chains, support farmer incomes and enable deeper exploration of its nutritional and medicinal properties.”
She warned that its value is still anchored in rarity. “Commercial cultivation, by introducing predictability and scale, risks eroding this exclusivity.”
She added that cultivated and wild varieties may need to be clearly separated in markets to preserve value hierarchies.
In the forests of Tral
For Mushtaq Ahmad Mir, the shift remains distant.
For 25 years, he has walked the pine and deodar forests of south Kashmir each spring in search of Gucchi. From Aripal in Tral, about 22 km from the Srinagar-Jammu highway, the 43-year-old sets out at dawn, scanning the forest floor for a harvest that once reliably supported his household.
But returns have steadily fallen. “Earlier, I could collect up to 4 kilograms in a season. Now it is hardly 1 kilogram,” Mir told Mint. “I used to earn around Rs. 50,000. Now it is barely Rs. 15,000. Many days we return empty-handed.”
For now, Gucchi cultivation remains in trials. In the forests of south Kashmir, collectors continue their seasonal search, moving through damp pine needles and decaying wood, still tied to an ecosystem that is becoming harder to read each year.