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University–Industry Collaboration (UIC) is crucial for enhancing sectoral performance and competitiveness. This study focuses on investigating the challenges and solutions to achieving effective UIC in Brunei Darussalam’s agricultural sector. This sector is pivotal in diversifying the economy away from historical dependence on oil and gas, thereby promoting sustainability.

Adopting an interpretivist stance, this study prioritised subjective views through semi-structured interviews with 20 diverse participants, including government officials, agri-business professionals, farmers, an agri-tech company and academicians.

The findings highlight key challenges to successful UIC, including varying stakeholder needs and goals, limited proactive engagement and inadequate funding. Overcoming these barriers necessitates the provision of financial support and supportive mechanisms to agricultural stakeholders, along with fostering active participation in collaborative efforts. Enhancements in both academic and practical aspects are also essential for addressing these challenges effectively.

This study provides practical insights for stakeholders in industry, academia and government to collaboratively improve sectoral performance. Given its qualitative nature, the findings may not be universally generalisable beyond the contexts examined. Future research should validate these findings across diverse settings to enhance the transferability and applicability of UIC strategies.

This study addresses a crucial gap in the literature by examining UIC in agricultural contexts, particularly in developing countries such as Brunei, where research in this area is scarce. Moreover, this study’s findings may have relevance beyond the immediate context, as they provide rich and detailed insights into UIC dynamics from diverse stakeholders' perspectives, which can be applicable to similar settings in other developing countries.

Despite the world’s effort in grappling with the coronavirus disease that has affected many sectors globally, knowledge and research on the COVID-19 pandemic as well as on the halal food and beverage industry remain limited, particularly in Brunei Darussalam. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the challenges that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the halal food processing industry face amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the sultanate.

A qualitative approach based on four semi-structured interviews was employed using a purposive sampling of managers and business owners of the manufacturing SMEs. Several government agencies were also interviewed to further supplement the findings. This paper also uses the support from a review of relevant academic journal articles, and other secondary data including newspapers and websites, to uncover the hindering factors surrounding the phenomenon.

Four themes emerged, covering four overarching and inter-related challenges including limited production; closure of retail stores; delay in exporting; and less sales to cover overheads.

This study positively contributes to the understanding of the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought into the country as well as adds and enriches the halal research sphere. Several implications for the SMEs, policymakers, as well as academic scholars, and limitations are also discussed.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to investigate the halal food processing industry in Brunei Darussalam especially, during the time of uncertainties such as the COVID-19 era. The paper’s value also lies in addressing the gap that there is a need to study on the impact of this outbreak on SMEs in the developing countries, inclusive of Brunei Darussalam.