diff --git a/package/dialog/dialog.mk b/package/dialog/dialog.mk
index fb00c9ccac..9af56e7733 100644
--- a/package/dialog/dialog.mk
+++ b/package/dialog/dialog.mk
@@ -17,4 +17,6 @@ ifneq ($(BR2_ENABLE_LOCALE),y)
 DIALOG_DEPENDENCIES += libiconv
 endif
 
+DIALOG_CONF_OPT += NCURSES_CONFIG=$(STAGING_DIR)/usr/bin/ncurses5-config
+
 $(eval $(autotools-package))