diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-netcdf4/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-netcdf4/package.py
index 7409e6dafbd79cccc6d1478edc5252ec49ea7b0d..18bbfaf57a85d015d8419efe044e8dba69786310 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-netcdf4/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/py-netcdf4/package.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ class PyNetcdf4(PythonPackage):
     depends_on('py-cython@0.19:', type='build')
 
     depends_on('py-numpy@1.7:', type=('build', 'run'))
+    depends_on('py-cftime', type=('build', 'run'))
 
     depends_on('netcdf')
     depends_on('hdf5@1.8.0:')