Mission Vuelta al Campo ("Return to the Countryside"; implementation announced in mid-2005) is one of the Bolivarian Missions (a series of anti-poverty and social welfare programs) implemented by former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez.
Mission Vuelta al Campo seeks to encourage impoverished and unemployed urban Venezuelans to willingly return to the countryside.
Prior to the Chávez administration, Venezuela's rural areas have seen substantial economic disinvestment, depopulation, and abandonment ever since oil wealth discoveries and extraction commenced in the early 20th century; as a consequence Venezuela now has an urbanization rate of more than 85% (far higher than the average for both Latin America and the Third World and is, despite its vast tracts of highly fertile soil and arable land, a net food importer.
Underutilized or unused private corporate and agricultural estates would now be subject to expropriation after fair-market compensation was paid to the owners.
Mission Vuelta al Campo fits into this context by seeking to facilitate the willing migration of urban residents back to the countryside in order to receive the benefits of these redistributions.