diff --git a/src/core/qgsogrutils.cpp b/src/core/qgsogrutils.cpp
index f3c8e81a11c..58bc82a042f 100644
--- a/src/core/qgsogrutils.cpp
+++ b/src/core/qgsogrutils.cpp
@@ -152,11 +152,13 @@ QgsFields QgsOgrUtils::readOgrFields( OGRFeatureH ogrFet, QTextCodec *encoding )
         varType = QVariant::DateTime;
         break;
       case OFTString:
+#if GDAL_VERSION_NUM >= GDAL_COMPUTE_VERSION(2,4,0)
         if ( OGR_Fld_GetSubType( fldDef ) == OFSTJSON )
           varType = QVariant::Map;
         else
           varType = QVariant::String;
         break;
+#endif
       default:
         varType = QVariant::String; // other unsupported, leave it as a string
     }
diff --git a/src/providers/ogr/qgsogrprovider.cpp b/src/providers/ogr/qgsogrprovider.cpp
index b8be5da3cd0..c2a20fc1063 100644
--- a/src/providers/ogr/qgsogrprovider.cpp
+++ b/src/providers/ogr/qgsogrprovider.cpp
@@ -155,12 +155,12 @@ bool QgsOgrProvider::convertField( QgsField &field, const QTextCodec &encoding )
       ogrType = OFTDateTime;
       break;
 
-    //not sure if needed, but for consistency
+#if GDAL_VERSION_NUM >= GDAL_COMPUTE_VERSION(2,4,0)
     case QVariant::Map:
       ogrType = OFTString;
       ogrSubType = OFSTJSON;
       break;
-
+#endif
     default:
       return false;
   }
@@ -1049,6 +1049,7 @@ void QgsOgrProvider::loadFields()
         break;
 
       case OFTString:
+#if GDAL_VERSION_NUM >= GDAL_COMPUTE_VERSION(2,4,0)
         if ( OGR_Fld_GetSubType( fldDef ) == OFSTJSON )
         {
           ogrSubType = OFSTJSON;
@@ -1061,6 +1062,7 @@ void QgsOgrProvider::loadFields()
           varType = QVariant::String;
         }
         break;
+#endif
       default:
         varType = QVariant::String; // other unsupported, leave it as a string
     }
@@ -1531,6 +1533,8 @@ bool QgsOgrProvider::addFeaturePrivate( QgsFeature &f, Flags flags )
         case OFTString:
         {
           QString stringValue;
+
+#if GDAL_VERSION_NUM >= GDAL_COMPUTE_VERSION(2,4,0)
           if ( OGR_Fld_GetSubType( fldDef ) == OFSTJSON )
           {
             stringValue = QString::fromUtf8( QJsonDocument::fromVariant( attrVal.toMap() ).toJson().data() );
@@ -1543,7 +1547,9 @@ bool QgsOgrProvider::addFeaturePrivate( QgsFeature &f, Flags flags )
           {
             stringValue = attrVal.toString();
           }
-
+#else
+          stringValue = attrVal.toString();
+#endif
           QgsDebugMsgLevel( QStringLiteral( "Writing string attribute %1 with %2, encoding %3" )
                             .arg( qgisAttId )
                             .arg( attrVal.toString(),
@@ -1689,9 +1695,11 @@ bool QgsOgrProvider::addAttributeOGRLevel( const QgsField &field, bool &ignoreEr
     case QVariant::Bool:
       OGR_Fld_SetSubType( fielddefn.get(), OFSTBoolean );
       break;
+#if GDAL_VERSION_NUM >= GDAL_COMPUTE_VERSION(2,4,0)
     case QVariant::Map:
       OGR_Fld_SetSubType( fielddefn.get(), OFSTJSON );
       break;
+#endif
     default:
       break;
   }
@@ -2121,6 +2129,7 @@ bool QgsOgrProvider::changeAttributeValues( const QgsChangedAttributesMap &attr_
           case OFTString:
           {
             QString stringValue;
+#if GDAL_VERSION_NUM >= GDAL_COMPUTE_VERSION(2,4,0)
             if ( OGR_Fld_GetSubType( fd ) == OFSTJSON )
             {
               stringValue = QString::fromUtf8( QJsonDocument::fromVariant( it2->toMap() ).toJson().data() );
@@ -2133,7 +2142,9 @@ bool QgsOgrProvider::changeAttributeValues( const QgsChangedAttributesMap &attr_
             {
               stringValue = it2->toString();
             }
-
+#else
+            stringValue = it2->toString();
+#endif
             OGR_F_SetFieldString( of.get(), f, textEncoding()->fromUnicode( stringValue ).constData() );
             break;
           }
diff --git a/tests/src/python/test_provider_ogr_gpkg.py b/tests/src/python/test_provider_ogr_gpkg.py
index 4438921cb26..1ee230e9c76 100644
--- a/tests/src/python/test_provider_ogr_gpkg.py
+++ b/tests/src/python/test_provider_ogr_gpkg.py
@@ -1231,6 +1231,9 @@ class TestPyQgsOGRProviderGpkg(unittest.TestCase):
         del vl2_external
 
     def testJson(self):
+        if int(gdal.VersionInfo('VERSION_NUM')) < GDAL_COMPUTE_VERSION(2, 4, 0):
+            return
+
         tmpfile = os.path.join(self.basetestpath, 'test_json.gpkg')
         testdata_path = unitTestDataPath('provider')
         shutil.copy(os.path.join(unitTestDataPath('provider'), 'test_json.gpkg'), tmpfile)