RIYADH: Weqaa, the National Center for the Prevention and Control of Plant Pests and Animal Diseases, recently identified the most invasive plant types discovered in the Kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency reported The invasive plants identified by the technical team were the prickly pear; two types of Austrocylindropuntia — Hudson pear cactus and Eve’s needle cactus; mesquite (Prosopis); tree tobacco; parthenium; lantanas; two types of argemone; sweet rush plant; and two types of reeds — the common reed and the giant reed. Weqaa’s CEO Ayman bin Saad Al-Ghamdi said: “This success is the result of the tireless efforts and field visits carried out by the project’s team in various regions of the Kingdom to identify the most important invasive plants and their proliferation location.” “The Kingdom’s identification and control of invasive plants project is currently working on a new experiment to control the spreading of the opuntia cylindrica and tree tobacco,” Al-Ghamdi said. He also pointed out that the identification and diagnosis of invasive plants is being studied in cooperation with experts from the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International, and that they are relying on the results of the plants’ identification to create Weqaa’s unique atlas. Al-Ghamdi underlined the importance of the phytosanitary (plant health) sector in ensuring the monitoring and control of plant pests and crop diseases, applying good agricultural practices, and protecting the flora and biodiversity from pests through the implementation of all the available technical, administrative, legal and logistical measures. The aforementioned project is part of the Integrated Pest Management scheme, one of the National Transformation Program initiatives aimed at controlling agricultural pests and invasive plants as well as protecting plant production. The project is implemented in cooperation with the National Center for Vegetation Development and Combating Desertification to ensure the health of plants and crops, namely cultivated plants, to promote economic development and achieve the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 goals.