The plowing charges of farm tractor-hire service enterprises sometimes influence the acreage plowed. This study was to explore the
relationship between farm acreage plowed and the plowing service charges of farm tractor-hire service enterprises and also assess the effect of
changes in plowing charges of farm tractor-hire service providers on the acreage plowed for smallholder farmers in four agro-ecological zones (the
coastal savannah, deciduous forest, transitional, and guinea savannah) of Ghana using a locally weighted regression (LOESS). A total of 120 tractorhire
service providers who plowed for smallholder farmers over the period of 2008 and 2011 were randomly sampled across the four agro-ecological
zones and interviewed. The results showed that the relation between the farm acreage plowed and the plowing service charges varied from one agroecological
zone to the other and the average maximum acreage plowed per service provider was found to be in the neighborhood of 270 acres at
average rate of GH¢29 per acre in the Coastal Savannah Zone, 850 acres at average rate of GH¢28 per acre in the Deciduous Forest Zone, 650 acres
at average rate of GH¢25 per acre in the Transitional Zone, and 450 acres at average rate of GH¢24 per acre in the Guinea Savannah Zone. The overall
outcome of this study would assist the tractor-hire service providers, policy makers, and agricultural extension agents to know the suitable average
plowing charges that a lot of the smallholder farmers could afford at the various agro-ecological zones to promote the plowing of more farm lands.