diff --git a/package/sane-backends/sane-backends.mk b/package/sane-backends/sane-backends.mk
index 4b29ddaf6e..3cb81a92ee 100644
--- a/package/sane-backends/sane-backends.mk
+++ b/package/sane-backends/sane-backends.mk
@@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ SANE_BACKENDS_LICENSE = GPLv2+
 SANE_BACKENDS_LICENSE_FILES = COPYING
 SANE_BACKENDS_INSTALL_STAGING = YES
 
+SANE_BACKENDS_CONF_OPTS = \
+	$(if $(BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS),--enable-pthread,--disable-pthread)
+
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_LIBUSB),y)
 SANE_BACKENDS_DEPENDENCIES += libusb
 SANE_BACKENDS_CONF_OPTS += --enable-libusb_1_0