diff --git a/swh/lister/cran/lister.py b/swh/lister/cran/lister.py
index b25ab3b..55428b5 100644
--- a/swh/lister/cran/lister.py
+++ b/swh/lister/cran/lister.py
@@ -1,117 +1,121 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2019 the Software Heritage developers
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 import subprocess
 import json
 import logging
 import pkg_resources
+from collections import defaultdict
 
 from swh.lister.cran.models import CRANModel
 
 from swh.scheduler.utils import create_task_dict
 from swh.core import utils
 from swh.lister.core.simple_lister import SimpleLister
 
 
 class CRANLister(SimpleLister):
     MODEL = CRANModel
     LISTER_NAME = 'cran'
     instance = 'cran'
+    descriptions = defaultdict(dict)
 
     def task_dict(self, origin_type, origin_url, **kwargs):
         """Return task format dict
 
         This is overridden from the lister_base as more information is
         needed for the ingestion task creation.
         """
         return create_task_dict(
             'load-%s' % origin_type, 'recurring',
-            kwargs.get('name'), origin_url, kwargs.get('version'))
+            kwargs.get('name'), origin_url, kwargs.get('version'),
+            project_metadata=self.descriptions[kwargs.get('name')])
 
     def r_script_request(self):
         """Runs R script which uses inbuilt API to return a json
             response containing data about all the R packages
 
         Returns:
             List of dictionaries
             example
             [
                 {'Package': 'A3',
                 'Version': '1.0.0',
                 'Title':
                     'Accurate, Adaptable, and Accessible Error Metrics for
                      Predictive\nModels',
                 'Description':
                     'Supplies tools for tabulating and analyzing the results
                      of predictive models. The methods employed are ... '
                 }
                 {'Package': 'abbyyR',
                 'Version': '0.5.4',
                 'Title':
                     'Access to Abbyy Optical Character Recognition (OCR) API',
                 'Description': 'Get text from images of text using Abbyy
                                  Cloud Optical Character\n ...'
                 }
                 ...
             ]
         """
         file_path = pkg_resources.resource_filename('swh.lister.cran',
                                                     'list_all_packages.R')
         response = subprocess.run(file_path, stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
                                   shell=False)
         return json.loads(response.stdout)
 
     def get_model_from_repo(self, repo):
         """Transform from repository representation to model
 
         """
+        self.descriptions[repo["Package"]] = repo['Description']
         project_url = 'https://cran.r-project.org/src/contrib' \
                       '/%(Package)s_%(Version)s.tar.gz' % repo
         return {
             'uid': repo["Package"],
             'name': repo["Package"],
             'full_name': repo["Title"],
             'version': repo["Version"],
             'html_url': project_url,
             'origin_url': project_url,
             'origin_type': 'cran',
         }
 
     def transport_response_simplified(self, response):
         """Transform response to list for model manipulation
 
         """
         return [self.get_model_from_repo(repo) for repo in response]
 
     def ingest_data(self, identifier, checks=False):
         """Rework the base ingest_data.
            Request server endpoint which gives all in one go.
 
            Simplify and filter response list of repositories.  Inject
            repo information into local db. Queue loader tasks for
            linked repositories.
 
         Args:
             identifier: Resource identifier (unused)
             checks (bool): Additional checks required (unused)
 
         """
         response = self.r_script_request()
         if not response:
             return response, []
         models_list = self.transport_response_simplified(response)
         models_list = self.filter_before_inject(models_list)
         all_injected = []
         for models in utils.grouper(models_list, n=10000):
             models = list(models)
             logging.debug('models: %s' % len(models))
             # inject into local db
             injected = self.inject_repo_data_into_db(models)
             # queue workers
             self.create_missing_origins_and_tasks(models, injected)
             all_injected.append(injected)
             # flush
             self.db_session.commit()
             self.db_session = self.mk_session()
 
         return response, all_injected
diff --git a/swh/lister/cran/tests/test_lister.py b/swh/lister/cran/tests/test_lister.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..31552e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/lister/cran/tests/test_lister.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from unittest.mock import patch
+from swh.lister.cran.lister import CRANLister
+
+
+def test_task_dict():
+    lister = CRANLister()
+    lister.descriptions['test_pack'] = 'Test Description'
+    with patch('swh.lister.cran.lister.create_task_dict') as mock_create_tasks:
+        lister.task_dict(origin_type='cran', origin_url='https://abc',
+                         name='test_pack')
+    mock_create_tasks.assert_called_once_with(
+        'load-cran', 'recurring', 'test_pack', 'https://abc', None,
+        project_metadata='Test Description')