Canal No 2 Polder on the West Bank of Demerara is one of those rapidly developing communities in the countryside where movable shops on buses and trucks take care of residents’ consumption needs. The area got its name from the canal which runs through it and which was dug in Dutch times.
Canal No 2 currently has a population of about 3000, and majority of its people are of Indian ethnicity. A few Africans reside there along with a small number of Amerindians. Most people belong to the Hindu faith while some are Muslims. Christians make up the smallest group.
About 90 per cent of residents earn their income from farming.
Cash crops such as bora, pumpkin, mamee, pineapple and plantain are grown. The rest of the population is engaged in small businesses or employed in the private or public sectors.
Everybody in the community has at least one fruit tree in their yard. Residents said that they try their best to be self sufficient where vegetables and fruits are concerned. There is no market, but produce is sold to wholesale buyers who visit the area.
Unlike most communities in the country areas where residents retire inside their homes very early, Canal in the afternoons and evenings is filled with the sound of young boys liming on the street or men taking a few drinks with friends at shops or in their houses.
Most of the children in Canal attend the Bellwest Nursery and Primary schools and the Kawal Secondary, but