Lake Toba is a lake and super volcano. The lake is 100 kilometres long, 30 kilometres wide, and up to 505 metres(1,666 ft) deep. It is located in the middle of the northern part of the Indonesian island of Sumatra with a surface elevation of about 900 meters. It is the largest lake in Indonesia and the largest volcanic lake in the world. The surrounding countryside is rainforest including areas of Sumatran tropical pine forest (Pinus merkusii) on the higher mountainsides. Sumatra has a huge range of plant and animal species but has lost almost 50% of its tropical rainforest in the last 35 years.

Karo Regency is a regency of North Sumatra, Indonesia. Eighty-seven percent of Sumatrans are thought to be Muslim. The island is home to 22% of Indonesia's population. In Karo district men and women share many aspect of village agriculture. Involving hundreds of thousands of men and women traders and various forms of transport, from human shoulders, horses, cars and bicycles, to minivans, trucks, and buses. Mopeds are prominent in small-scale trade everywhere.

Zundert, a Municipality in the Netherlands, has a town partnership with Karo (Sumatra). It will serve a platform for sharing and transferring knowledge, expertise and experience. Zundert lies in a fertile area where various tree-nurserymen have located of old. Some different experts and trainers in the fields of tree nursery, ornamental and pot plants, strawberry growing and forestry, were invited to Karo Regency by the Government of this district.

Zundert is one of the most agricultural municipalities of the Netherlands. 10% of all nursery production of the Netherlands is around Zundert. Production of Strawberries and young field grown trees and hedging plants is very important in the area. The Strawberry advisor has expertise in the different cultivation technique suited the best for Sumatra conditions. But he has also ample experience in plant propagation, and in the organisational and financial management of strawberry nurseries.

In the Karo district compost is not enough available. To make compost, it is finely shredding the carbon rich ingredients such as fallen leaves, hay, straw and fresh plants. Shredding increases the surface area that the compost microbes have to work on, and provides a more even distribution of air and moisture among the materials. Compost can be rich in nutrients. Also compost itself is beneficial for the land in many ways, including as a soil conditioner, a fertilizer, addition of vital humus or humic acids, and as a natural pesticide for soil.

Main species of ornamental plants in the nurseries are King Palm (Roystoneo regia), Bottle Palm (Hypohorbe logenicaulis), Pine ( Araucaria heterophylla) Thuja, Chamaecyparis, and Sikas (Sicas rumphy). Plants are growing in pots and poly bags. Polybags are the containers most commonly used. They are usually made of black polyethylene. Polybags often restrict the root growth, and roots curl at the bottom or grow into the ground, resulting in weak or injured plants. Root trainer systems is a modern alternative.

Cinnamomum cassia, called Chinese cassia or Chinese cinnamon, is an evergreen tree originating in southern China, and widely cultivated there and elsewhere in southern and eastern Asia. The tree grows to 10–15 m tall, with greyish bark and hard, elongated leaves that are 10–15 cm long and have a decidedly reddish colour when young. On the photo we see the Cinnamon used in a Private Resort in North of Sumatra as an Avenue tree.

About 60 percent of the population of Sumatra are farmers who produce subsistence and market-oriented crops such as rice, vegetables, fruit, tea, coffee, sugar, and spices. Rice is the most important grain with regard to human nutrition and caloric intake, providing more than one fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by humans. Seedlings of rice are started in beds and after a period of 30 -50 days are transplanted by hand to fields which have been flooded by rain or river water. The seedlings are often placed a hand span apart.

Tamarix aphylla is the largest known species of Tamarix and grows to 18 metres (60 ft) high. It is an evergreen tree. The tiny leaves are alternately arranged along the branches, and exude salt, which can form a crusted layer on the surface, and drip onto the ground beneath. In Sumatra the tree is commonly used as avenue tree along tourist sites and resort areas. There is a demand for ornamental and avenue trees and the way to get them to grow. Zundert can play a role in this.

Zundert (Netherlands) and Karo (North Sumatra) Project 2009