Soil contamination could lead to an increase in cancer and other fatal diseases besides serving a blow of billions of rupees through reduced crop yields to the agrarian provincial economy, an agricultural economy expert told The Express Tribune.
“More than 60% of total wheat and rice is grown in Punjab,” he pointed out from a recent case study determining loss of agricultural productivity in Pakistan. “The real GDP will decline by 3.7% of the base value due to the yield loss of wheat and rice under extreme scenarios of soil degradation.