diff --git a/gobject/valacodegenerator.vala b/gobject/valacodegenerator.vala
index fd4a7db..e2a23f6 100644
--- a/gobject/valacodegenerator.vala
+++ b/gobject/valacodegenerator.vala
@@ -1392,6 +1390,10 @@ public class Vala.CodeGenerator : CodeVisitor {
 					ma.ccodenode = element_expr;
 					element_expr = get_ref_expression (ma);
 
+					var clendecl = new CCodeDeclaration ("int");
+					clendecl.add_declarator (CCodeVariableDeclarator.with_initializer (get_array_length_cname (collection_backup.name, 1), array_len));
+					cblock.add_statement (clendecl);
+
 					var cfrag = new CCodeFragment ();
 					append_temp_decl (cfrag, temp_vars);
 					cbody.add_statement (cfrag);