diff --git a/roles/koschei/backend/templates/config-backend.cfg.j2 b/roles/koschei/backend/templates/config-backend.cfg.j2
index fc753a6adb..552d7cad88 100644
--- a/roles/koschei/backend/templates/config-backend.cfg.j2
+++ b/roles/koschei/backend/templates/config-backend.cfg.j2
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 # assignment to config dictionary which will be recursively merged with the
 # default one.
 
+{% if env != 'staging' %} {# 1.9 #}
 class DictMergeWorkaround(object):
     # workaround that koji login args get accidentally merged with example ones
     def __init__(self, mapping):
@@ -11,6 +12,7 @@ class DictMergeWorkaround(object):
         return self.mapping.keys()
     def __getitem__(self, key):
         return self.mapping[key]
+{% endif %}
 
 config = {
     "database_config": {
@@ -39,7 +41,7 @@ config = {
             "krb_rdns": False,
         },
         {% if env == 'staging' %}
-        "max_builds": 4,
+        "max_builds": 16,
         "build_arches": ['i386', 'x86_64', 'armhfp'],
         "load_threshold": 1,
         {% else %}