The National Center for Sustainable Agriculture Research and Development "Estidama" organized an open day program on integrated pest management and biological control at the center's headquarters in Riyadh Technology Valley, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Since integrated pest management and plant disease control are among the most important practices in greenhouse crop cultivation due to their significant impact on the environment and human health, the Estidama Center organized this program to enable farmers in the Kingdom to adopt appropriate programs regarding integrated pest management to reduce the use of chemical pesticides and improve the quality of fruits.
The integrated pest management program includes a wide range of practices, including crop rotation, agricultural practice control procedures, biological control and other alternative mechanisms to provide the local market with healthy agricultural products that are as free as possible from pesticides. To achieve this strategy, the Estidama Center introduced the attendees to the latest various technologies, including natural control, biological control and control through biotechnology.
The center is also working on developing new natural enemies that target specific insects, especially Tuta absoluta - the tomato leaf miner - which has been carefully selected and examined to eliminate strains that pose a threat to other beneficial organisms.
The program was attended by a large group of people interested in protected agriculture, who showed great interaction with the topics discussed in the workshop and the results that were presented. The attendees also made field trips to the greenhouses at the Sustainability Center, and received practical training on the latest technologies used in the field of integrated pest management and biological control.