diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/django/Dockerfile b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/django/Dockerfile
index db48870d8..8b0544a4b 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/django/Dockerfile
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/local/django/Dockerfile
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ ARG BUILD_ENVIRONMENT=local
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y \
   # dependencies for building Python packages
   build-essential \
+  # needed to build cffi on some architectures
+  libffi-dev \
   # psycopg2 dependencies
   libpq-dev
 
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/production/django/Dockerfile b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/production/django/Dockerfile
index 4c8695a57..4134aa6f9 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/production/django/Dockerfile
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/production/django/Dockerfile
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ ARG BUILD_ENVIRONMENT=production
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y \
   # dependencies for building Python packages
   build-essential \
+  # needed to build cffi on some architectures
+  libffi-dev \
   # psycopg2 dependencies
   libpq-dev