Vulnerability of family farming systems to climate change: The case of the forest-savannah transition zone, Centre Region of Cameroon

•This study assesses the elements that influence family farmers' sensitivity to climate variability and change in the transition zone between forest and savanna in the northern Central Cameroon Region.•Over the previous ten years, small farmers were found to have faced the highest temperatures and heat waves.•Extreme droughts, which are becoming more often, and diminishing rainfall totals were assumed to be the key contributors to climate sensitivity.•Family farms in Obala are just marginally vulnerable to climatic variability and change, whereas those in Batchenga, Ntui, and Mbangassina have high vulnerability indices.•Six explanatory variables largely impact the susceptibility of smallholder farmers to climate fluctuation and change.