diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/rdkafka/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/rdkafka/default.nix
index 7a9818bce97d..0d7483d3c2e3 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/rdkafka/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/rdkafka/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ lib, stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, zlib, perl, pkg-config, python, openssl }:
+{ lib, stdenv, fetchFromGitHub, zlib, pkg-config, python3, openssl }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   pname = "rdkafka";
@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     sha256 = "sha256-EoNzxwuLiYi6sMhyqD/x+ku6BKA+i5og4XsUy2JBN0U=";
   };
 
-  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkg-config ];
+  nativeBuildInputs = [ pkg-config python3 ];
 
-  buildInputs = [ zlib perl python openssl ];
+  buildInputs = [ zlib openssl ];
 
   NIX_CFLAGS_COMPILE = "-Wno-error=strict-overflow";