Leading agricultural research institutions Monday warned that extensive use of genetically modified cotton seeds was destroying farming bio-diversity and jeopardising the livelihood of over four million cotton growers in India. ”Indian farmers grow 90 percent of hirsutum (species of cotton), of which 90 percent is GM cotton. Desi cotton will only survive if yields and fibre quality will improve and the maturity period reduced,” said a joint statement by Karnataka’s University of Agricultural Science, Dharwad, company bioRe India Ltd. and Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, Switzerland.