The outbreak of COVID-19 disrupted traditional ways of life, business models and economic activities creating a new normal. Unprecedented impact has been experienced with some businesses shutting down, others struggling while some have established a level of resilience. The agriculture sector is heavily reliant on external services for supply of inputs, advisory services, financial support, community support and markets. The national economy lock-down had a huge impact as revealed in the findings. Based on the impact and gathered interventions, the paper proposes a resilience framework that advocates for adoption and integration of innovations, science and technology (IST) in resilient strategies to support farmers build resilience in the face of current or future adversaries. The study was quantitative in nature investigating the impact of COVID-19 pandemic period on farmers in the Teso region of eastern Uganda. The assessment was based on farm aspects such as labour, production, earnings, markets and socio-economic $factors$. © 2021 IST-Africa Institute and Authors.
Leveraging COVID-19 impact: Innovation, science and technology (IST) integration for boosting resilience of citrus fruit farmers in teso region of Uganda