diff --git a/src/Composer/Package/Loader/ArrayLoader.php b/src/Composer/Package/Loader/ArrayLoader.php
index 3cc440a93..61c1170a0 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Package/Loader/ArrayLoader.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Package/Loader/ArrayLoader.php
@@ -73,6 +73,10 @@ class ArrayLoader
             $package->setExtra($config['extra']);
         }
 
+        if (!empty($config['description']) && is_string($config['description'])) {
+            $package->setDescription($config['description']);
+        }
+
         if (!empty($config['keywords'])) {
             $package->setKeywords(is_array($config['keywords']) ? $config['keywords'] : array($config['keywords']));
         }
diff --git a/src/Composer/Package/MemoryPackage.php b/src/Composer/Package/MemoryPackage.php
index 419688a43..8c4ec4d9b 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Package/MemoryPackage.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Package/MemoryPackage.php
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ class MemoryPackage extends BasePackage
     protected $releaseDate;
     protected $keywords;
     protected $authors;
+    protected $description;
     protected $extra = array();
 
     protected $requires = array();
@@ -451,6 +452,24 @@ class MemoryPackage extends BasePackage
         return $this->authors;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Set the description
+     *
+     * @param string $description
+     */
+    public function setDescription($description)
+    {
+        $this->description = $description;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * {@inheritDoc}
+     */
+    public function getDescription()
+    {
+        return $this->description;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Set the autoload mapping
      *
diff --git a/src/Composer/Package/PackageInterface.php b/src/Composer/Package/PackageInterface.php
index f0bc3ae1d..afa0849d1 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Package/PackageInterface.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Package/PackageInterface.php
@@ -272,6 +272,13 @@ interface PackageInterface
      */
     function getKeywords();
 
+    /**
+     * Returns the package description
+     *
+     * @return string
+     */
+    function getDescription();
+
     /**
      * Returns an array of authors of the package
      *