MORE than a week since the Davao City Government issued a temporary ban on all live pigs and pork products from Luzon and other areas, vendors and consumers are not affected despite possible threat of the entrance of African Swine Fever (ASF) in the city.
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio issued the ban last September 23. The ban applies to all live pigs, pork and pork-related products and by-products, whether fresh, frozen, processed or cooked, including but not limited to frozen boar semen, from Luzon and other ASF-affected areas.
Both the Department of Agriculture (DA)-Davao and the City Veterinarian's Office, in a previous report, said there is no
expectancy of pork shortage and price increase because Davao City alone is "self sufficient" in terms of production.
Based on monitoring conducted by SunStar Davao in two public markets in the city: Agdao and Bankerohan Public Market, on Wednesday, October 2, the pork meat prices range between P180 to P220.
Albert (name withheld), a pork vendor at the Bankerohan Market, said they had slightly lowered their price from P179 to P175. He, however, said that there was no sudden price change since patron consumers continue to buy pork for them amid the ASF-scare news broke off recently.
Meanwhile, he said that all of their meats are sourced from a piggery farm in Ma-a, Davao City.
But Kate, another vendor from the same market, said the docking off of meat in the market had been stricter since the ASF-issue was publicized.
"Naa man gani to taga Samal and Davao Oriental nga nagbaligya diri nga gipapa-uli sila kay kulang sila ug dokumento (Some pork products from Samal and Davao Oriental were sent back to its point of origin due to lack of documents)," Kate said.
"Naa gyud uban nga mangutana kung asa nila ginapalit ang karne ug naa ba'y NMIS (National Meat Inspection Service) seal (though some other customer will ask as to where did they buy their pork meat and do they have the NMIS seal)," Albert told SunStar Davao.
Tito (name withheld), a pork vendor at Agdao Market, said his stall had a slight drop in prices. He said the meat price used to be at P220, but since the ASF-ban was issued, the price now ranges P190 to P200.
"Mas arang-arang dati, kay mga tao di pa mataha og pamalit. Pero wala man nuon mi nabawasan og suki. Segurista lang hinuon sila karon tungod lage aning ASF (The market selling used to be way better before compared to now since there's a slight hesitation from the consumers. Although, on our part, there wasn't a change as to the number of consumers we cater. Right now, consumers have been more practical and meticulous in buying pork)," Tito said.
He also said that all of his pork products are from a piggery in Toril, which complied with all the necessary permits set by the City.
Meanwhile, some consumers in both markets said they are not bothered by the current ASF-scare. (Grace D. Daypan, UM Intern/With Ralph Lawrence Llemit)