diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-openvino/ggml-openvino.cpp b/ggml/src/ggml-openvino/ggml-openvino.cpp
index 0031cb7369f..bdd55e1d1f8 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml-openvino/ggml-openvino.cpp
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-openvino/ggml-openvino.cpp
@@ -143,13 +143,18 @@ static void * ggml_backend_openvino_buffer_get_base(ggml_backend_buffer_t buffer
     return ctx->data;
 }
 
+static bool is_stateful_enabled() {
+    static const auto * stateful = getenv("GGML_OPENVINO_STATEFUL_EXECUTION");
+    return stateful && strcmp(stateful, "1") == 0;
+}
+
 static enum ggml_status ggml_backend_openvino_buffer_init_tensor(ggml_backend_buffer_t buffer, ggml_tensor * tensor) {
     // GGML_LOG_DEBUG("%s: buffer usage=%d, tensor name=%s\n", __func__, buffer->usage, tensor->name);
     ggml_backend_openvino_buffer_context * ctx = (ggml_backend_openvino_buffer_context *) buffer->context;
 
     // Put kvcache on device memory for GPU (NPU memory is too small even for kvcache)
     if (strncmp(tensor->name, "cache_", 6) == 0 && !ctx->is_remote && ggml_openvino_get_device_name() == "GPU" &&
-        !getenv("GGML_OPENVINO_STATEFUL_EXECUTION")) {
+        !is_stateful_enabled()) {
         GGML_ASSERT(ctx->tensor_extras.empty());
         auto device = ctx->device;
         auto size = ctx->size;
@@ -664,7 +669,7 @@ GGML_BACKEND_API ggml_backend_t ggml_backend_openvino_init(int device) {
 
     std::shared_ptr<ov_runtime_context> r_ctx = std::static_pointer_cast<ov_runtime_context>(ctx->runtime_context);
     r_ctx->device = ggml_openvino_get_device_name();
-    r_ctx->stateful = getenv("GGML_OPENVINO_STATEFUL_EXECUTION") && !ggml_openvino_is_npu();
+    r_ctx->stateful = is_stateful_enabled() && !ggml_openvino_is_npu();
 
     ggml_backend_t openvino_backend = new ggml_backend{
         /* .guid      = */ ggml_backend_openvino_guid(),