diff --git a/R-package/src/Makevars b/R-package/src/Makevars
index c089c093389b..13df4d1db8eb 100644
--- a/R-package/src/Makevars
+++ b/R-package/src/Makevars
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 CXX_STD = CXX11
-PKG_CPPFLAGS = -I../inst/include
-PKG_LIBS =  $(LAPACK_LIBS) $(BLAS_LIBS)
+PKG_LIBS = $(LAPACK_LIBS) $(BLAS_LIBS) `pkg-config --libs opencv`
+PKG_CFLAGS = `pkg-config --cflags opencv`
+PKG_CPPFLAGS = -I../inst/include `pkg-config --cflags opencv` `Rscript -e 'Rcpp:::CxxFlags()'`
diff --git a/R-package/src/Makevars.win b/R-package/src/Makevars.win
index c75a7583d1da..7be3d8f935b1 100644
--- a/R-package/src/Makevars.win
+++ b/R-package/src/Makevars.win
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
-
 PKG_CPPFLAGS = -I../inst/include
 PKG_LIBS =  $(LAPACK_LIBS) $(BLAS_LIBS) -L../inst/libs/x64/ -llibmxnet