President Andrzej Duda on Friday signed off on legislation which will postpone a ban on modified fodder that has been planned since 2006.

The legislation comes as Poland aligns itself with more lax EU legislation.

The law signed by Duda, voted through parliament in September, will prolong the use of GMO in animal fodder from January 2025, when a ban was to take effect, until 2030.

The Ministry of Agriculture, which drafted the bill, buckled to animal-feed industry fears that a ban would hike Polish agricultural prices.

Lobbyists had argued that Poland lacked a suitable alternative to GMO fodder, according to industry journal All About Feed.

The Polish move follows a change of attitude towards genetically modified products in the European Union, which lessened the impact of anti-GMO legislation in January.

Poland, one of the biggest agricultural producers in the European Union and number one exporter of poultry, is the fourth-largest importer of feed containing genetically modified soya, with most supplies coming from Brazil, Argentina and Ukraine.

“Domestic products have lower prices compared to other EU countries, allowing Poland to hold a strong market position” the agriculture ministry was quoted as saying in All About Feed.