I thought I raised some important historical, medical, and geopolitical clues to the causes of poverty in Africa which in any case is a large bit of real estate. This is a forum where hopefully one may provide dissenting views in the western intellectual tradition.
To discuss these issues I have raised in 350 words is akin to a brief discussion on the meaning of life. Modern journalism tends to simplistic articles by mass educated people who know no history, have no sense of mentally rigorous arguments, precision or scholarship or have any sense of their own simplistic folly.
Africa is one of the most bountious regions on the planet. Uganda was once the jewel in the crown of the British Empire.

African poverty is caused by:-

1. Political corruption and failed institutions.
2. Poor property rights.
3. High taxes.

A farmer in ethiopia who makes an annual profit in excess of US$4000 faces a marginal tax rate of 89%. No wonder he/she does not invest in increased output. No wonder he/she does not produce excess income to save for the lean years. No wonder he/she starves when the rains don't come

When one talks about African poverty, what does one mean? Africa is a continent and not a company. The reasons are complex. How does one define poverty? Poverty of what? Read the Sermon on the Mount. The West has a poverty of spirit but a richness in material things. We must not impose materialism on any people. How did people in African regions live for tens of thousands of years? Were they always poor? What do you mean by poor?
The West imposes these key selection criteria on non-western countries. Were our Australian aborigines poor for 40,000 years? It is all relative and our value system is based on things, not families, social life, communal relationship with Nature, the environment or the Dreamtime.
So when you talk of poverty, tell me how well you know your neighbours, your street and your community, and divide the equation by the numbers of cars, dishwasher, and computers and give me the answer.

Give me a village well and a place where the old men can hold hands and talk and the old women make shawls.

Odysseus, although I understand what you're getting at, there's a danger in romanticising 'village life', or whatever you want to call it, as perfectly harmonious and free of worry and hardship. Not having enough to eat or watching family members die unnecessarily from preventable diseases would be a start in defining poverty. You say we must not impose materialism on anyone, but who are we to deny a tv or a computer to someone who can afford it? What if these things were used to promote and conserve local cultures and traditions? They don't neccessarily have to be conduits of crass western commericalism and hollywood celebrities.
The life of which you envisage sounds nice, but does it really exist? and who are we to dictate such a lifestyle? What about the agency of Aficans themselves? their desires and dreams for the future?

I totally agree. I have no romantic notions of life in "those days". On the other hand I think we impose what we think as "poverty" on other cultures. Is having a well rather than running water "poverty". When I was a boy in the country we had a man who collected the stinking dunny can every week and toilets were out the back yard even in winter and at night. Now in an Australia city, this would be regarded as a sign of "poverty". We are becoming obese and developing type 2 diabetes because we no longer have to split wood for the fire like my parents did, or ring out washing in a tub. Who is "poor". My uncle and aunt lived in a shed with a dirt floor for ten years out west while he was clearing his block in the bush for sheep.
I have been to "under-developed" (read...under-exploited) countries and think we have much to learn about our concepts of "poverty".

In our country it is often said the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer but in reality, the richer are getting richer and the poor are getting richer. How many poor people in Oz don't have a car or a TV? It's all relative. Our government encourages us by taxation (or lack thereof) to have houses with three bathrooms and monogrammed bathmats. Perhaps we can't afford this too. Perhaps we are the poor rich.

I would regard starvation as a good indicator of poverty. When people die of hunger on mass you know that you definitely have some form of material poverty.

I still can't get over the fact that Ethiopian farmers pay a marginal tax rate of 89%. Its just so cruel and stupid