diff --git a/package/perl-net-ssh2/perl-net-ssh2.mk b/package/perl-net-ssh2/perl-net-ssh2.mk
index b174fa6210..77d39edef5 100644
--- a/package/perl-net-ssh2/perl-net-ssh2.mk
+++ b/package/perl-net-ssh2/perl-net-ssh2.mk
@@ -10,5 +10,9 @@ PERL_NET_SSH2_SITE = $(BR2_CPAN_MIRROR)/authors/id/S/SA/SALVA
 PERL_NET_SSH2_LICENSE = Artistic or GPL-1.0+
 PERL_NET_SSH2_LICENSE_FILES = README
 PERL_NET_SSH2_DEPENDENCIES = libssh2 zlib
+# build system will use host search paths by default
+PERL_NET_SSH2_CONF_OPTS += \
+	lib="$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/lib" \
+	inc="$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/include"
 
 $(eval $(perl-package))