During the 20th century, a devastating disease called Coffee Wilt Disease (CWD) spread across Africa, reducing yields, destroying millions of coffee trees and costing millions of USD in lost earnings for producers (Flood, 2009). The disease has also contributed to a decline in the revenues of several African nations. CWD reached epidemic proportions twice in the 20th century – through the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s – and was responsible for the failure of the commercialisation of excelsa coffee. However, following the systematic introduction of sanitation methods (uprooting and burning affected bushesin situ) together with comprehensive breeding programmes in affected African countries, CWD appeared to decline in incidence and was considered a minor disease (Flood, 2009). Yet the disease re-emerged initially as a series of sporadic outbreaks on robusta coffee in remote areas of Central Africa during the 1970s. Later, incidence increased to epidemic proportions in the last decades of the 20th century and into the 21st century (Flood, 2009), affecting robusta coffee in DRC, Uganda and Tanzania. In addition, the disease has become an increasingly important constraint to production of arabica coffee in Ethiopia (Girma et al., 2001, 2009a).Coffee wilt diseaseCoffee wilt disease